A “reckless” abandonment of old values in the quest for easy success and a disconnect with the grassroots, even its own cadres, lie behind the Kerala BJP’s electoral failures and the scandals engulfing it, some party functionaries feel.

A leaked audiotape has triggered accusations that Kerala BJP president K. Surendran bribed a Left ally to join the NDA, and an April 3 car robbery has left the state unit fighting allegations of using money power to influence the April 6 Assembly elections.

However, BJP insiders who spoke to The Telegraph suggested the rot didn’t begin with the under-fire Surendran but stemmed from “systemic flaws” that had developed over several years.

“None of this recklessness happened because of one individual named Surendran. The main reason is the systemic flaws arising from years of ignoring the old school values established by our veteran leaders,” a senior state BJP functionary, who declined to be named, told this newspaper.

“Had they followed the path of the past leaders whose approach was based on an adequate outreach to the people and a connect with party workers, no (current) leader would have dared taken any such controversial decisions.”

He was alluding to the allegations, which Surendran has denied but which have prompted questioning and infighting within the party, causing a state-level BJP official to be sacked and a party worker to be stabbed in a factional clash.

Another BJP source argued that merely changing the state leadership would not help. “If not Surendran, someone like him will take over the reins, and that will solve nothing unless the system changes.”

Asked what the reason for the “disconnect” was, the first source said the current leaders were “immersed” in social media.

“They are immersed in Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter. They go by the massive following each of them enjoys on these platforms without realising that this doesn’t translate into votes or grassroots support,” he said.

“Our leaders don’t answer or return calls from party workers and local functionaries. Party workers often call some of us seeking solutions to problems when the big leaders ignore them. We try to pacify them although there’s little we can do.”

The source added: “Once we lose our relationship with the party workers, they lose the enthusiasm for grassroots work. It’s this disconnect with the workers that has led to this big defeat.”

While the BJP lost the lone seat it had won in 2016, the NDA’s vote share shrank from 14.96 per cent to 12.4 per cent between the two state elections.

The source attributed the top leaders’ failure to understand the pulse of the people to their lack of electoral experience.

“Take Surendran, (national executive member) P.K. Krishnadas, (state organising general secretary) M. Ganeshan and the others close to them. None of them has even won an election to a cooperative bank,” he said.

The second source said Krishnadas was planning moves to replace Surendran.

“But I don’t think it would make any difference unless they imbibe some lessons from our veteran leaders who built the party in Kerala,” he said, alluding to leaders like P.P. Mukundan and C.K. Padmanabhan.