The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) brought to its fold, arguably, a motley group of Congress discontents in Kerala on March 14. Notably, the desertions came on the eve of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s fifth campaign foray into Kerala this year.
On March 15, Mr. Modi is scheduled to address an election rally in Pathanamthitta where another high-profile Congress defector, Anil K. Antony, is fighting under the BJP banner.
The Congress members who joined the BJP at a function in Thiruvananthapuram on March 14 have a relatively less prominent public profile than Mr. Antony and Padmaja Venugopal, scions of two prominent Congress families and children of former Chief Ministers who defected to the BJP earlier.
