00:00And some more news coming in. Setback for BJP in Keralam's Thiruvananthapuram.
00:04BJP councillor R. Shri Lekha resigns.
00:07Former BJP Shri Lekha was councillor from Sastamangalam.
00:10And Shri Lekha submits letter to Mayor V.V. Rajesh.
00:14Attempts underway to pacify Shri Lekha.
00:16But as per report, Shri Lekha was upset over Mayor promise.
00:21So, that's the breaking news that's coming in from Keralam,
00:24where it's a setback for the BJP in Keralam's Thiruvananthapuram,
00:28where BJP councillor R. Shri Lekha has resigned.
00:32My colleague Shibimol Keji is now joining us with more details on this.
00:35Shibimol, what was the reason behind R. Shri Lekha resigning from the BJP?
00:42Well, Anjali, since a very long time, since the elections were over,
00:46she has been disappointed that, you know, the mayor post was not handed out to her.
00:51Because she says that she was promised the mayor post before the elections.
00:55And that's why she decided to contest.
00:57She's like the first woman BJP of Kerala also.
01:00So, a very prominent figure, a very influential figure in the state.
01:04So, she decided to join politics because she was promised this post,
01:07but that was not given to her post-election victory.
01:10So, she has been upset about it.
01:12She has sent a message on a WhatsApp group of the council,
01:15looking that she's resigning due to personal reasons.
01:19And she submitted it to the mayor of Thiruvananthapuram, B.V. Rajesh.
01:22So, Monday should be submitting a resignation to the secretary of the corporation.
01:26So, only when the secretary accepts it, it will be, you know, finally official resignation.
01:34But, you know, it's just a difficult setback for the leaders because if they don't have one more member,
01:39then they will find it difficult to prove majority in the corporation.
01:42So, the BJP leadership is intervening at this moment.
01:46They have time till Monday to convince her to take back their resignation and continue as the councillor.
01:51So, though she says it's personal reasons,
01:54the fact that she has been upset for a very long time was out there in the open.
01:57So, we'll have to wait and see how the BJP is going to convince her to take back their resignation
02:02and continue
02:02because if not, they will have to face this issue of having to prove the majority in the corporation.
02:08So, Shivamal, what efforts are underway by the BJP leaders in order to pacify Archie Lekha and so that she
02:16does not resign?
02:18Well, we're learning that the BJP leadership is talking to her and trying to convince her
02:23and also mainly understand the reason.
02:25She says it's a personal reason.
02:28The mayor has accepted the resignation because the mayor, of course, has to accept it as that standard procedure.
02:34But the official resignation comes to the picture only if the corporation secretary accepts it on Monday.
02:43She says she'll submit her resignation to the district collector on Monday.
02:47So, they have time for today and tomorrow to convince her.
02:50So, they're talking to her mainly to understand what exactly is the reason.
02:54Yes, this upset thing has always been there.
02:57She contested for the assembly election also in between.
03:00But she was promised the post of mayor.
03:03In fact, during the elections also, she was portrayed as the mayor face of BJP in 2025 local body election.
03:10So, post the results, it was handed over to V.V. Rajiv, who's an experienced leader, saying that, you know,
03:15the experienced count, he has been in the corporation, he has been a counselor for a long time.
03:19So, to deal with an opposition like the left and the Congress, you need somebody experienced.
03:24So, that was the reason.
03:25So, right now, the leadership is talking to her and we'll have to wait till Monday to know what will
03:30be the final decision
03:31or whether she'll continue with an earlier decision to resign.
03:34All right, Shibimul, thank you for those details.
03:37So, our Shree Lekha has resigned from the BJP.
03:40Now, this is very crucial.
03:41The efforts are underway in order to pacify her because if her resignation is accepted,
03:46BJP may be reduced to minority and the only civics body it is running in Kerala.
03:52So, that is why this is very crucial.
03:54The final decision will be out on Monday.
