Former ISRO chief Madhavan Nair joins BJP in Kerala

Madhavan Nair was given the formal membership of the saffron party by BJP president Amit Shah on Saturday.

Trivandrum: Former Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman Madhavan Nair joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in Trivandrum.

Nair was given the formal membership of the saffron party by BJP president Amit Shah on Saturday.

#Kerala: Former ISRO Chief Madhavan Nair joined Bharatiya Janata Party in the presence of party President Amit Shah, in Trivandrum yesterday. pic.twitter.com/W7KsZp75re — ANI (@ANI) October 28, 2018

According to media reports, four others, including former Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) president G Raman Nair, were also inducted into the saffron party. 

Nair took the decision to join the BJP since he is a firm believer in PM Modi’s ''philosophy of developing India”, a party source said.

Nair, an eminent space scientist, had been working with the party for quite some time.

During his day-long visit to Kerala, Shah extended full support to those opposing the Sabarimala verdict and also condemned the arrest of over 2,000 devotees, including RSS and Sangh Parivar activists in connection with the protests.

''In Sabarimala, the nation has seen a fight between dharma, belief and bhakti on the one side and an oppressive Kerala government on the other. The LDF is using its power to suppress belief of Ayyappa devotees. But Vijayan,I want to remind you that BJP stands firmly with the Ayyappa devotees,'' he tweeted.

''There is an emergency like situation in Kerala. The women of Kerala themselves support the age-old tradition of restricted entry to the Sabarimala, but CM Vijayan, instead of providing relief to the flood-hit people, is spending all his energy in tackling peaceful devotees of Lord Ayyappa,'' Shah said.