Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 27 (IANS): Two months after Sandeep Warrier, a former BJP leader in Kerala, joined Congress, he has been made a spokesperson of the party

The Congress on Monday included Warrier in the list of its spokespersons. From now on Warrier, who till November was one of the most popular and sought-after BJP leaders for the media, will now be seen batting for the Congress party.

Sources in the Congress point out that this is just one of the first posts that has been given to him and during the upcoming organizational revamp, the party will give him more important responsibilities.

It was days ahead of the crucial by-election in Kerala's Palakkad Assembly seat in November last year, that the Congress roped in Warrier and he joined the party. Present on the occasion then were all the Congress party stalwarts, including state President and Kannur Lok Sabha member K.Sudhakaran, General Secretary in charge of Kerala Deepadas Munshi, Leader of Opposition V.D.Satheesan and others.

Welcoming Warrier, State Congress president K.Sudhakaran said this is a very happy moment for the Congress. "Warrier was the face and voice of the BJP for long and when he decided to work for a secular need, we decided to invite him and the invite has been accepted by him. His coming will benefit us and the state as it will send a lot of messages to all," he said.

When votes were counted at Palakkad, the margin of the Congress candidate won by almost five times the margin that was secured in the 2021 Assembly polls and one of the factors that was acknowledged was the arrival of Warrier into the Congress party.

After Shafi Parambil won the Lok Sabha polls from Vadakara, he vacated the Palakkad Assembly seat and even though the Congress won the seat with a handsome margin, the BJP candidate held on to the second place and the CPI(M) candidate finished third.