Regi Lukose, a popular face of the Left on public forums and television debates, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday.
Lukose was formally welcomed into the party by state chief Rajeev Chandrasekhar at Mararji Bhavan, the party state headquarters.
Lukose said that he has been appearing on television news debates and political programmes for the past 13 years as a vocal supporter of the Left ideology. In addition, he has written columns extensively arguing in support of the Left ideology and the frontline party, CPI(M), in newspapers and magazines.
However, he claimed that he realised of late that the “decaying ideas” of the Left were not serving any benefits for the future of Kerala.
“If such decaying ideas continued to be supported, Kerala would turn into an elderly care home. For some time, the development narrative and ideas propagated by the BJP had begun to strike me. The progress I often see while travelling in north India has shocked me,” said Lukose.
“Earlier, BJP used to be often called communal. But in the past several months, the transformation of the Left front as one that is intent on creating communal divisions has saddened many people like me,” he added.
Lukose said that he was a formal member of the CPI(M), adding that his words and actions from this point would, however, reflect his support of the BJP.
Responding to the development, senior CPI(M) leader K Anilkumar said that Lukose was neither a CPI (M) member nor authorised formally by the party to appear on its behalf in news debates.
“He is not a party member. If someone chooses to support the Left publicly, we cannot forbid them. At the same time, his words do not reflect the views of the party,” he said.
Lukose’ entry into the BJP comes at a time when the party is focusing its energies on establishing closer ties with the Christian community in the state, a traditional UDF bastion who account for nearly 20% of the state’s population.
Curated by Aisha Patel
