Abdullakutty appointed BJP state VP

: Former Kannur MP A P Abdullakutty,who recently joined the BJP,has been appointed as the state Vice President of the saffron party's Kerala unit.

The announcement was made by party state President P S Sreedharan Pillai at a press conference here.

"Abdullakutty has been appointed as the state vice president of the party", he said.

Pillai also dismissed the various exit poll results by various media houses on the outcome of the bypolls to five assembly constituencies in Kerala held on Monday, predicting that the BJP-NDA would not fare well.

"We do not subscribe to the current exit poll results brought out by many media channels.

That's not the original position," he said adding the voting percentage had gone down due to the rains.

Meanwhile, reacting to his elevation as the party's state Vice President, Abdullakutty said that the BJP had given him a huge responsibility.

"Yes my ideologies have changed and I will work for the betterment of the people of Kerala. It's a huge responsibility," he told reporters.

A two-time CPI(M) MP, Abdullakutty was first expelled from the Left party in 2009 for expressing admiration for Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he was the Gujarat Chief Minister.

Kutty later joined the Congress and was elected to the state assembly twice.

The Congress had on June 3 this year expelled him from the party days after he lavished praise on the Prime minister for the BJP-led NDA's massive victory in the 2019 general election.

In a Facebook post, Abdullakutty had said the NDA's victory was an acceptance of Modi's development agenda and the secret of his success was that he adopted Gandhian values.