Palakkad (Kerala), Nov 16 (PTI) Ahead of the November 20 Palakkad Assembly bypoll, dissident Kerala BJP leader Sandeep G Varier on Saturday joined Congress.
Varier, a former spokesperson and state committee member of BJP, was welcomed to the Congress by leaders including KPCC chief K Sudhakaran, Leader of Opposition V D Satheesan and AICC general secretary Deepa Das Munshi at the grand old party's office here.
"I am taking a membership in the shop of love," Varier told reporters at a press conference along with Congress leaders here.
He claimed that BJP state president K Surendran was the reason behind his exit from the saffron party.
"K Surendran and his team are the sole reason I joined Congress," he said.
He said that the mistake he made was expecting support and love from an organisation that has consistently fostered only hate.
He added that he left the party because he was frustrated with the constant compromises between the BJP leadership and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
He further stated that the BJP abandoned him for opposing the Karuvannur co-operative bank scam.
The idea of Congress is the idea of India, he added.
Buoyed by his joining the party, KPCC chief Sudhakaran said more people will come to the Congress.
"The entry of Varier indicates the increasing relevance of the Congress party," he added.
Satheesan said, "We welcome Varier, who has left the market of hatred and has come to the shop of love."
Meanwhile, BJP leaders said that Varier's exit will not make any impact in the party and its prospects in the Palakkad bypoll.
BJP state president K Surendran responded that his exit would not make any effect on the bye-election or in the Kerala BJP.
"Since Varier joined Congress claiming he didn't get a seat, I hope he gets big seats in the 'shop of love' than he ever got in the BJP," he added.
BJP leader and party's Palakkad bypoll candidate C Krishnakumar said only one of the spokespersons has left.
"Congress is best suited for him and it will abandon him after the elections," he added.
Varier had raised a banner of protest after BJP announced the name of party leader Krishnakumar as its candidate in the Palakkad bypoll, stating that he felt humiliated and consistently ignored by the party, even in relation to campaign events for the by-election.
Earlier, this month Varier announced his decision not to campaign for BJP candidate.
Earlier there were media reports suggesting that Varier would join the CPI(M). Referring to this, the Left party's state secretary M V Govindan stated that his party had no concerns about his not joining them.
"For us, it's not about coming or going, but about the policy," he said.
"If someone rejects their previous stance and wishes to align with the Left, we don't turn them away," he further stated.
CPI(M) leader and Minister for Local Self Government, M B Rajesh, claimed, "We have said we would welcome Varier only after he rejects his policies of communalism."
"Only the Congress could support a person who has made hundreds of hate-filled speeches", he alleged.
The BJP came second at Palakkad in the 2021 and 2016 assembly elections. In 2021 'Metro man' E Sreedharan, as a BJP candidate, lost to Congress's Shafi Parambil by only 3,859 votes.
The Election Commission postponed the Palakkad Assembly by-poll from November 13 to November 20, citing the Kalpathi Ratholsavam festival.
The bypoll was necessitated after Congress MLA of the constituency, Shafi Parambil, got elected to the Lok Sabha from the Vadakara constituency.