TRIVANDRUM, 13 October 2003 — S. Krishna Kumar, a minister of state in the Rajiv Gandhi and P.V. Narasimha Rao governments and former civil servant who quit the Congress party recently, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) yesterday vowing he would present the party as a viable alternative in the bipolar politics in Kerala ruled by the Marxist and Congress led fronts alternatively.
Kumar is the first prominent leader to join the rightwing party in the southernmost state despite best efforts by the party for the past two decades.
“I took the decision after giving it serious thought. For me, BJP is only a platform to present a new development model for Kerala,” said Kumar, who had served as the Ernakulam district collector and head of public enterprise before taking the political plunge 23 years back.
“I was inducted into BJP by Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani and BJP President Venkaiah Naidu at the venue of the 101st birth anniversary of Jayaprakash Narain in New Delhi,” he said.
Kumar said his wife Usha Krishna Kumar, the general secretary of the women’s wing of the Congress party, would “take appropriate decision as a senior leader”.
