<p>The BJP's decision to make MLA B B Gopakumar as legislative party leader in <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/tags/kerala">Kerala</a> has raised many eyebrows.</p><p>While <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/tags/bjp">BJP</a> leaders maintain that it was a strategic social outreach move to make the junior most among the three MLAs in the assembly as the legislative party leader, Gopokumar was learnt to have emerged as a compromise candidate amid a tug of war between the other two MLAs - party state president Rajeev Chandrasekhar and former minister of state for external affairs V Muraleedharan.</p>.BJP to contest Kerala Speaker election, fields Gopakumar.<p>Earlier, there were reports that the BJP decided to make Muraleedharan the legislative party leader, but Chandrasekhar was reportedly opposed to the move, which prompted the party to finally zeroed-in on Gopakumar.</p><p>A BJP leader said that Gopakumar, who won from Chathanoor in Kollam, is a prominent leader of the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam (SNDP) - a forum of the Hindu Ezhava OBC community. His elevation as legislative party leader would help the party to woo the Ezhava vote banks.</p><p>It is for the first time that the BJP won three seats in the Kerala assembly. The party won its maiden seat in 2016 but lost it in 2021.</p>
<p>The BJP's decision to make MLA B B Gopakumar as legislative party leader in <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/tags/kerala">Kerala</a> has raised many eyebrows.</p><p>While <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/tags/bjp">BJP</a> leaders maintain that it was a strategic social outreach move to make the junior most among the three MLAs in the assembly as the legislative party leader, Gopokumar was learnt to have emerged as a compromise candidate amid a tug of war between the other two MLAs - party state president Rajeev Chandrasekhar and former minister of state for external affairs V Muraleedharan.</p>.BJP to contest Kerala Speaker election, fields Gopakumar.<p>Earlier, there were reports that the BJP decided to make Muraleedharan the legislative party leader, but Chandrasekhar was reportedly opposed to the move, which prompted the party to finally zeroed-in on Gopakumar.</p><p>A BJP leader said that Gopakumar, who won from Chathanoor in Kollam, is a prominent leader of the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam (SNDP) - a forum of the Hindu Ezhava OBC community. His elevation as legislative party leader would help the party to woo the Ezhava vote banks.</p><p>It is for the first time that the BJP won three seats in the Kerala assembly. The party won its maiden seat in 2016 but lost it in 2021.</p>
