Will the lotus bloom in Kerala?

By TwoCircles.net Staff Correspondent,

Thiruvananthapuram: Will the lotus bloom? – This is an important question in this Assembly election, as till this time the question was who would get the BJP votes. The heat of the Kerala politics dominated by the two fronts, and the factional conflicts inside the party had weakened the BJP. The party was also allegedly involved in sale of votes. However, this time, even the national leaders of the BJP were in Kerala perspiring to get at least one seat in the Assembly.


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Party’s senior leader and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Ms Sushma Swaraj was given the charge of the Kerala election campaign by the national leadership. National president Nitin Gadkari, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, etc campaigned in Kerala.

As against the Kerala trend of direct fight between the LDF and the UDF, there are a few constituencies which face a triangular fight in this election. The districts that give BJP some hope are Kasargod, Thiruvananthapuram and Palakkad. And the party has fielded their senior leaders as candidates in the crucial constituencies – O Rajagopal (Nemom) and PK Krishnadas (Kattakkada) in Thiruvananthapuram, Udayabhasker in Palakkad, and K Surendran (Manjeshwar) and Jayalakshmi N Bhat (Kasargod) in Kasargod.




Narendra Modi poster in Kerala. [TCN photo]

Mr O Rajagopal contesting from Nemom in Thiruvananthapuram was former Minister of State for Railways in the NDA government. While the CPI (M) has fielded an important leader Mr V Sivan Kutty, the Congress gave the seat to its ally Socialist Janatha (Democratic) Party which has fielded Charupara Ravi. The Congress not fielding its own candidate raises doubts as to whether it would help O Rajagopal. PK Krishnadas contesting from Kattakkada was former state president of the BJP. UDF candidate is N Sakthan of the Congress and the LDF has fielded Jaya Dali, who left the Congress camp in the election time, reportedly because she was denied ticket to contest. Mr Udayabhasker contesting from Palakkad reportedly is a businessman from Maharashtra. He got into trouble in the early stages of campaigning itself by the distribution of sarees in two places. The party has good support in the constituency, as per the Panchayat election voting levels.

However, the BJP is more hopeful of its two seats in Kasargod, the northernmost district which lies close to Karnataka, the only South Indian state where the party is in power. State general secretary K Surendran and Jayalakshmi N Bhat face a close triangular fight in Manjeshwar and Kasargod, respectively. In Manjeshwar, the CPI (M) has fielded sitting MLA CH Kunjambu and the UDF has fielded Muslim League’s PB Abdur Razak. In Kasargod, the LDF has fielded INL leader Azeez Kadappuram, while the UDF has fielded Muslim League’s NA Nellikkunnu who left the INL recently. Ms Bhat was formerly in the Congress and reportedly keeps good connection with the party members in the district now also.

The party hopes to win or come in the second place in these constituencies, and accordingly it has carried out the best campaigning ever in the state in the places. There is also an analysis that the BJP can get rid of the usual allegation of sale of votes if at least one candidate wins. The party has also reportedly decided to take stringent action against any, be it even any leader, who sold votes to other parties as before.

There have been reports that the BJP and Congress had reached secret agreement by which a section of the Congress would vote for the BJP in Kasargod, Manjeshwar, Palakkad and Nemom, in return for which, the BJP would help the Congress in 30 constituencies. The constituencies would include some of those of allies also, which would lose when the Congress helps the BJP. While the LDF accuses the Congress of having secret agreements with the BJP in four constituencies, the Congress is accusing the CPI (M) of alliance with the BJP in Koothuparamb in Kannur and Ponnani in Malappuram.

Whether the BJP would get the support of the two major Hindu organizations in Kerala – the Nair Service Society (NSS) and the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam (SNDP) – is an important question. Ms Sushma Swaraj had reportedly said earlier that the two organizations would support the BJP in the elections. But soon the organizations denied it saying they had not promised support to any party. And then, Ms Swaraj had to say that the BJP leaders had talked with the leaders of the two organizations, but the latter had not made any decision clear. She added that the organizations did not seem to have any opposition to the BJP. While the NSS openly speaks of keeping equal distance from both the LDF and the UDF, a chunk of the Ezhava votes (of the SNDP) use to go for the CPI (M). However, their stand in this election would be crucial, with the SNDP already suggesting the BJP is no untouchables and the NSS pointing towards helping the community’s candidates, be they in whichever party.

The BJP has not fielded any candidate in Malampuzha where Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan is contesting. When the issue was raised by the Congress, BJP explained that the seat was given to its ally JD (U) whose candidate is contesting there. However, the explanation is taken with doubts, as the BJP has a good following in the constituency and the party had fared well there in the Panchayat election held late last year. In addition, Mr Achuthanandan is seen by many as the communal face of the Communist party. Several of his remarks such as the one suggesting that the children of Malappuram won in exams by copying, etc are seen as against Muslims. His infamous Delhi statement, at the time of the love-jihad issue, that some forces were trying to make Kerala Muslim-majority by increasing population by marrying Hindu girls was highly criticised. And he was praised by the Sangh Parivar for the statement.

The Malampuzha issue came up again when the JD (U) announced it was withdrawing its candidate from the constituency last day. But BJP leader Sushma Swaraj reportedly held emergency talks with JD (U) chief Sharat Yadav and the party withdrew the statement. The JD (U) candidate will contest against VS there.

While the party is struggling hard to make its presence known in the state, two well-known figures in Kerala have joined the BJP in the last few days. Mr Alphonse Kannamthanam, who was the independent MLA of Kanjirappalli supported by the LDF, joined the BJP late last month. The former IAS officer resigned as MLA before joining the BJP, according to reports. He can surely be the Christian face of the party that the BJP has been yearning for since the anti-Christian riots in Orissa. The other person who found solace in the BJP is also a Christian – Jose Maveli who is the chairman of the Janaseva Shishubhavan in Aluva.

However, whether all this would help the BJP in this election is yet to be seen. In any case, the results to come on May 13 would be decisive in the history of the BJP as well as Kerala.

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