BJP Candidate R Sreelekha Walks Out of Own Election Convention After Union Minister Forgets to Mention Her Name

Thiruvananthapuram: Internal discord within the BJP spilled into public dramatically during the election convention held for Vattiyoorkavu candidate R Sreelekha, when she walked off the stage shortly after Union Minister S Jaishankar inaugurated the event online. The incident, captured on video and widely circulated on social media, has become the latest embarrassment for a party already struggling with visible factionalism ahead of polling day.

Jaishankar, while speaking at a convention organised for Sreelekha, called upon voters to ensure the victory of Rajeev Chandrasekhar — without once mentioning Sreelekha or the Vattiyoorkavu constituency. Sreelekha promptly left the stage. Senior BJP leaders, including state vice president K Soman, spent considerable time persuading her outside before she finally returned to the venue.

The incident is not an isolated one. When Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Thiruvananthapuram after the local body elections, Sreelekha conspicuously kept her distance while other party leaders crowded around Modi for photographs, eventually leaving the venue — a moment that had sparked significant discussion within party circles at the time.

Sreelekha has on multiple occasions publicly taken on the BJP leadership. She had earlier stated that she contested only because of a promise that she would be made Mayor, and that the party subsequently sidelined her. In an earlier interview to an online outlet, she had revealed that she had initially refused to contest at all and that she had not entered the fray to remain a mere councillor — candid admissions that had stirred considerable controversy within the organisation.