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Kerala conundrum keeps BJP on the edge
Kerala BJP is banking on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity and outreach towards the Christian minority and is hoping to win a couple of seats
As the 2024 general elections inch closer, murmurs of consternation grow louder in the Kerala unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the choice of candidates in some of the 16 seats announced so far (the state has 20 Lok Sabha constituencies). With four more seats still in play, all eyes are on the party’s central election committee meeting.
Kerala BJP is banking on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity and outreach towards the Christian minority and is hoping to win a couple of seats in the state where electoral success has so far remained elusive for the party.
But a section of state leaders is peeved that the central leadership has overlooked party workers who have been diligently toiling in the Communist bastion, opting to pick turncoats. They have also pointed out that by picking only one Christian candidate – Anil Antony – the selection process is not congruous with the party’s plan of wooing the community that makes up for 18.38% of the state’s population, as per Census 2011.
According to senior state leaders, the party is confident of bagging Thrissur, Thiruvananthapuram and Pathanamthitta and had identified these seats for senior leaders who have been in the organisation for years, or for candidates with a substantial support base.
A state leader said by picking Antony, who joined the party in April 2023, the central leadership overlooked PC George, who merged his Kerala Janapaksham (Secular) with the BJP last month. Known to have strong ties with the church, George was expected to bring in the much-needed support from the minority community. “There was speculation that either the state president K Surendran or Sreedharan Pillai (Goa Governor) would be the face from Pathanamthitta,” the leader said.
“Now, there is buzz about where Padmaja Venugopal (daughter of former chief minister K Karunakaran) will contest from. She’s the latest to join the party... While it is good to get few faces, the workers are demoralised when new entrants and turncoats get tickets,” the leader said.
The leader said that in Kannur too, the decision to pick former Congressman C Raghunath has upset the cadre, which was expecting senior leader and former president CK Padmanabhan as the candidate. A member of the party’s national council, he lashed out at the party recently over its ‘anti-Muslim’ stance.
The only Muslim candidate in the list so far, Abdul Salam is contesting from the Muslim-dominated Malappuram too has been in the news for all wrong reasons. His glaring absence from the PM’s roadshow in the state earlier this week gave the opposition a an excuse to criticise the BJP.
The CPM claimed it was deliberate even as Salam offered an explanation that his constituency was not part of the seats that were to be covered by the roadshow.
