The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) seeks to offset its perceived political frailties in Kerala by weaving its campaign around the persona of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his “development, welfare, and security” agenda.
Mr. Modi is visiting Kerala for the second time in January, signalling that, perhaps, after Tamil Nadu, the BJP views the State as an auxiliary launch pad for its expansion into south India after the Congress trounced the party in the Karnataka and Telangana Assembly elections.
A toehold in Kerala or Tamil Nadu is essential for the BJP’s national aspirations and attempts to project itself as a party of regional economic growth and inclusiveness.
BJP State president K. Surendran has said Mr. Modi will lead a high-decibel roadshow in Kochi on January 16.
On January 17, Mr. Modi will attend a mass wedding in Guruvayur sponsored by the BJP and take part in the star-studded wedding of the daughter of actor Suresh Gopi, BJP’s projected candidate from the Thrissur Lok Sabha constituency.
He will return to Kochi the same day to chair a meeting of election managers of what the party reckons as winnable parliamentary constituencies in the State, primarily Thrissur.
Mr. Modi is making his second political foray into Kerala even as the dust from his resounding roadshow and women empowerment meeting in Thrissur on January 3 barely began settling.
The BJP’s perceived pivot towards Kerala dovetails with its resolve to end “revolving-door politics” in the State. It has repeatedly drawn a political equivalence between the State Congress and the Communist Party of India (Marxist).
The party has pointed to the “anti-Modi” INDIA bloc compact between the ruling front and the Opposition at the Centre to paint the Congress and the CPI(M) in Kerala as allies masquerading as rivals to hoodwink the State’s electorate.
Moreover, BJP heavyweights have been visiting Kerala and attending public functions with increasing frequency in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar prominent among them.
Their comings and goings have lent credence to political speculation that the BJP might field big names from the Union government in parliamentary constituencies, including Thiruvananthapuram, where the party believes it has a fighting chance against the Congress and the CPI(M).
Rahul Gandhi’s presence in the Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency in Kerala has also prompted the BJP to accord increased importance to the State in its Lok Sabha electoral calculus.
