BJP to focus on 60 assembly segments in Kerala
KOCHI: The BJP state committee meeting held in Kochi on Saturday observed that the party has been able to garner the votes of the marginalised sections, Christian minorities and sympathisers of the CPM and Congress in the recently held Lok Sabha elections. Preparing for the assembly polls in 2026, the party will be focusing on 60 assembly segments where it secured 35,000 to 75,000 votes in the LS polls.
Bolstered by its performance in the recent polls, the party decided to rejuvenate the network at the grassroots ahead of the local body polls. National president J P Nadda will attend the extended state-level leaders’ meet to be held in Thiruvananthapuram on July 9. Around 8,000 party leaders from panchayat committee president to state committee members will attend the meet.
“BJP’s performance in the Lok Sabha election has highlighted the growing role of the party in state politics. Besides winning one seat, the party came first in 11 assembly seats and came second in 8 seats. However, nobody has noticed our performance in other seats. We secured 35,000 to 75,000 votes in 60 assembly segments. Our performance has upset both the UDF and the LDF,” said K Surendran, BJP state president.
“CPM state secretary M V Govindan has been blaming some communities among the Hindus and Christians for the increase in BJP vote share. However, our assessment is that the marginalised sections and Christian minorities have left vote bank politics and supported development politics. ,” he told mediapersons.
Alleging that the CPM has introduced the bill for delimitation of local body wards to ensure its victory in the local body elections, he said the BJP will form committees at panchayat level to expose unscientific delimitation of wards. The party will oppose the move politically and legally.
Replying to a question, Surendran said the lacklustre performance in Pathanamthitta is not because of the selection of the candidate. The BJP’s performance in 2019 was largely influenced by the Sabarimala factor. The decline in polling percentage is the reason for the decrease in votes. He said the BJP’s performance has been below expectations in some constituencies and the party will study the reasons.
Union ministers Suresh Gopi and George Kurian, former Union Minister V Muralidharan, Padmaja Venugopal and P C George attended the meeting. Though all candidates who contested the Lok Sabha polls were present, former Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar and Anil Antony did not attend.
