PM to address a meeting in Trivandrum on Tuesday
TRIVANDRUM: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address a rally of his Bharatiya Janata Party in the Kerala state capital, Trivandrum, on Tuesday, on his third visit to the state in two months, hoping to end its electoral drought.
The Hindu nationalist party is leaving no stone unturnedinthesouthernstateaheadofthenational elections, which are expected in April or May, and is targeting at least two seats.
Modi will hold a road show here with the party’s state unit chief, K Surendran, marking the conclusion of his long foot march, which began last month from the northernmost Kasaragod district.
On Jan.3, he held a roadshow in Thrissur city along with film star-turned-politician Suresh Gopi, the BJP candidate in the upcoming election.
Modi arrived in Thrissur again on Jan.16, offering prayers at two Hindu temples and atending the wedding ceremony of Gopi’s daughter.
The next day, he held a massive roadshow in Kochi in the neighbouring Ernakulam district, the second such event in the Kerala port city in less than a year.
The BJP‘S vote share shot up from 11.15 to 28.2 per cent when Gopi contested from Thrissur in 2019, and he has since made the district his second home.
Congress party’s TN Prathapan won the seat then, scoring 39.8 per cent votes, defeating the Communist Party of India’s Rajaji Mathew Thomas, who got 30.9 per cent votes.
To challenge them, CPI has fielded a more charismatic leader, VS Sunil Kumar, a four-time legislator and a former state minister, making the fight tougher and interesting this time.
Gopi has since been nursing the constituency, atending various events and holding massive outreach programmes and charity events.
Sensing the opportunity, the BJP turned Modi’s visitsintoavirtuallaunchofgopi’selectioncampaign.
Though BJP has been coming second in Trivandrum in the recent elections, pollsters say it was almost impossible for the party to defeat Congress’s Dr Shashi Tharoor here.
The Hindu nationalist party is yet to open its account in the national elections from the southern state dominated by the Congress and the communists.