This Article is From Apr 03, 2014

Will Lotus bloom in Kerala this time?

Will Lotus bloom in Kerala this time?
Thiruvananthapuram: Whether Kerala will have any 'Narendra Modi' effect this time to make the lotus bloom in a state well known for its highly bipolar politics is the question being asked by many.

For the BJP, the state continued to be a non-starter as none of its candidates was elected to the Lok Sabha and to the 140-member assembly since its Jan Sangh days.

The party leadership expects that at least one of its candidates will get elected to the 16th Lok Sabha from the state this time in the April 10 elections.

The BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, who visited the state thrice in the last six months, will take the poll campaign to the zenith by addressing a rally at Kasargod on April 8.

Apparently the party is pinning its hope in Thiruvananthapuram where its best known face O Rajagopal is locked in a three-cornered combat with Union Minister Shashi Tharoor (Congress) and CPI's Bennet Abraham.

The party, which has roped in two fringe groups, have put up candidates in all the 20 Lok Sabha seats.

It is significant to note that during his earlier trip to the state, Modi addressed a function held at Sivagiri Mutt at Varkala, belonging to the Sree Narayana Dharma Sangham Trust, a major pilgrim centre where social reformer and saint Sree Narayana Guru's Samadhi is located.

Political observers also point out Mr Modi's appeal to backward community Pulayars in the state during a function organised by Kerala Pulayar Mahasabha, an organisation of the community. Mr Modi had wooed the community stating that Congress-led UPA had ruled the country by dividing the society.


Expressing confidence, BJP State President V Muraleedharan said with poll campaign reaching final stages, political climate was moving in the party's favour.

"The party will open its account in the state this time," Muraleedharan told PTI.

"UPA government's 10-year misrule, corruption and soaring prices of essential commodities are the main poll plank of the party in the state," he said.

"We appeal to voters to bring Modi to power for making changes to the present situation in the country."

In a bid to boost party candidates in Kerala, BJP senior leader L K Advani would address campaign meetings in Thrissur and Thiruvananthapuram on April 8, he said.

In 2009, BJP contested all but one of the 20 Lok Sabha segments in the state, and received 6.6 per cent votes.

But the BJP's appeal has slowly been on the rise in the state which sharply swings between the Marxist-led Left Democratic Front and Congress-headed United Democratic Front.

In the 2010 local bodies polls, BJP put up an improved peformance as party candidates won more than 900 seats in various bodies, including the city corporations.

BJP is pinning its hopes on 84-year-old Rajagopal due to the fact that in the 2004 Lok Sabha polls, Rajagopal finished a close third in Thiruvananthapuram with 29.86 per cent of all votes polled. He got 2,28,052 votes, the highest number of votes any BJP candidate has received in Kerala.

Firebrand women's leader Sobha Surendran from Palakkad and BJP's fomer state president K Surendran from Kasargod are among the 20 candidates put up by the party.
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