By IANS,
New Delhi/Thiruvananthapuram : K.J. Alphons, an independent Kerala legislator and former bureaucrat who earned the ‘demolition man’ sobriquet during his tenure as the head of the Delhi Development Authority (DDA), joined the BJP Thursday and was made a member of its national executive.
“Of course, I weighed all the options and I felt BJP was the best bet because my primary concern is development,” Alphons told IANS after Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Nitin Gadkari welcomed him at the party office in Delhi.
He also said he had been made a member of the BJP’s national executive.
Asked where he would be based, Alphons said: “Since communication facilities are there, it is immaterial where I am based. If I am asked to campaign for my party in my state, I will be certainly in the forefront.”
Last week, Alphons, an independent legislator backed by the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), surprised many when he decided not to contest the April 13 Kerala polls from the Poonjar assembly seat in Kottayam district.
He said he did not want his capabilities to be “tied down to just one constituency”.
He was supported by the Left Democratic Front at the 2006 polls, where he trounced Congress leader Joseph Vazhaken by over 10,000 votes.
He earned the title of ‘demolition man’ when he headed the DDA in the 1990s and demolished more than 14,000 illegal constructions in the national capital.