CPI leader and former Vaikom MLA K. Ajith joins BJP

Communist Party of India (CPI) leader and former Vaikom MLA K. Ajith joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He accepted the party membership from BJP State president Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Sunday.

Mr. Ajith had represented the Vaikom Assembly constituency from 2006 to 2016 in two terms. He attributed his decision to join the BJP to what he termed the inability of the Left Democratic Front (LDF) to address the concerns and needs of the Dalit community, a section which, he said, he represented.

The decision to join the BJP was not a sudden one, Mr. Ajith, who has been a CPI member for 40 years, told a press conference in Thiruvananthapuram.

Dalit communities had consistently been denied benefits eligible to them. Neither the ruling LDF nor the Opposition United Democratic Front (UDF) had made any effective intervention to bring about a change. “I spoke to like-minded people and we decided to approach the BJP,” he said. He described the BJP as the most supportive political party as far as the Dalits were concerned.

Mr. Ajith said that he had presented his grievances before the CPI leadership six months ago.

Mr. Ajith also expressed the hope that the BJP would be able to usher in development in Vaikom. Even though the 100th anniversary of the Vaikom Satyagraha was celebrated last year, the celebrations did not include any plans for the much-needed development of the constituency, he alleged.