Buoyed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s back-to-back electoral forays into Kerala, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) convened here on Wednesday to chart out a strategy for scripting an emphatically good showing in the Lok Sabha polls.
The NDA hoped to bolster Mr. Modi’s vigorous electoral pitch by optimally factoring in caste, religion and age demographics in candidate selection and tailoring its political messaging suitably.
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By some accounts, the BJP’s ally, BDJS, will contest four seats in Kerala. The BJP’s parliamentary board meeting, chaired by Mr. Modi, Union Minister for Home Amit Shah, and BJP national president J.P. Nadda, in New Delhi, on Thursday will likely finalise the candidates.
Mr. Modi’s national profile and his development, welfare and security agenda will likely push individual candidates into the penumbra of NDA’s electoral campaign.
Nevertheless, the meeting reportedly weighed fielding high-profile candidates, possibly a mix of political heavyweights and celebrities, in top priority constituencies where the NDA perceived a fighting chance.
The NDA also hoped to exploit politically the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] decision to field Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) dissident K S Hamsa in Ponnani on the party’s ticke .
NDA vice-chairperson P.K. Krishnadas, who chaired the meeting, said the move signalled a tacit understanding between the IUML and the CPI(M).
He alleged that IUML national general secretary E.T. Mohammad Basheer, had shifted from Ponnani to Malappuram to help the CPI(M). He said the understanding would resonate in 20 parliamentary constituencies in the State and hobble the Congress’s chances. He accused the CPI(M) of overtly aligning with fundamentalist forces.
The BJP perceived that former Kerala Janapaksham (Secular) leader P.C George’s entry into the BJP would give a fillip to the NDA in Christian heartlands in Central and North Kerala. Mr. George had repeatedly claimed that he had the imprimatur of the Church to merge his party with the BJP.
The NDA campaign will focus on corralling Hindu and Christian votes. It would raise the CPI(M)‘s refusal to term the Hamas a terrorist organisation in the aftermath of the attack on Israel and the Ram Temple construction as central talking points along with the charges of corruption against Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
BJP national executive member Kummanam Rajasekharan, Janathipathya Rashtriya Sabha president C.K. Janu, Vishnupuram Chandrasekharan, and Shiva Sena leader Peroorkada Harikumar were present.
