“I wish Sandeep Varier all the best, and I request Congress leaders VD Satheesan and K Sudhakaran to hold him tight. Hold on to his hands firmly,” Kerala’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president K Surendran told the media on Saturday, November 16, his voice laced with sarcasm. Surendran was responding to the news of BJP state committee member Sandeep Varier officially defecting to the Congress, days after Sandeep stated that he won’t campaign for the BJP in the Palakkad bye-election because of the neglect and humiliation he faced in the party.

“This is all just a script, an irrelevant script. Mark my words, this is not going to have any effect on the upcoming bye-elections or in the Kerala BJP,” Surendran told the reporters, calling the defection an incident that “did not even warrant a reaction”. He also alleged that this “drama” has been scripted because the Congress has realised it is going to face defeat in the bye-elections.

“Since Sandeep has gone to the Congress claiming that he did not get a seat, I hope he gets big seats in the ‘shop of love’, much bigger seats than he got in the BJP,” he added.

According to the state BJP chief, it is also important to note the day Sandeep Varier chose to join the Congress. “This is the very next day after VD Satheesan met the relatives of the murderers of [RSS workers] Sreenivasan and Sanjith. I think the voters in Palakkad would be able to recognise this as it is. This was an act of betrayal towards our martyrs,” he said.

Pointing out that the party had earlier taken action against Sandeep, Surendran said it was not just because of a Facebook post shared by him as was speculated. “I didn’t reveal the exact reason behind it because there is a decorum we have to maintain as a political party. It doesn’t suit us to say such things before the public. So I’m wishing Congress leaders VD Satheesan and K Sudhakaran all the best. Let Sandeep live long in the Congress,” he said.