PM Modi is leading the BJP’s campaign in the southern states (File/AFP)
New Delhi:
With just weeks left for the crucial Lok Sabha elections, the BJP has intensified its South outreach. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will spearhead the party’s campaigns in Kerala, Telangana, and Tamil Nadu, states where the BJP is yet to make major inroads.
In Kerala, the BJP is working to woo the minority Christian community to secure a strong foothold in a state where the demographic landscape – with a dominant Muslim and Christian population – is a formidable challenge for a party that is seen as pro-Hindu.
PM Modi will arrive in Pathanamthitta at 10.30 am and will be received by the BJP’s state chief K Surendran, the party’s Kerala in-charge Prakash Javadekar, state General Secretary George Kurian, and Pathanamthitta district president VA Sooraj.
The PM will address a public meeting here, which, according to sources, will be attended by one lakh people.
NDA’s Lok Sabha picks – V Muraleedharan, Anil K Antony, Sobha Surendran, and Baiju Kalasala – will also attend the meeting, the sources said, adding that Padmaja Venugopal, the daughter of Congress stalwart and former Kerala Chief Minister K Karunakaran who recently switched over from Congress, will also be there.
In Tamil Nadu, the BJP does not have an ally for the first time since the AIADMK quit the NDA bloc last year amid a row over the BJP’s state chief K Annamalai.
In his fifth visit to the state this year, PM Modi will campaign in Kanniyakumari today. The southern tip of India is where the BJP has a better presence; in the Dravidian heartland, it is still grappling without any major allies after AIADMK’s exit.
The party is trying to woo the PMK and actor Vijayakanth’s DMDK in the state in the run-up to the polls. The Prime Minister has been targetting the ruling DMK over dynastic politics and corruption, while the DMK has built a narrative around the BJP’s attack on federalism and financial discrimination in southern states.
The party has had some luck with the Congress’s sitting MLA Vijayadharani joining the party in Kanyakumari.
The Prime Minister, on a marathon campaign trail, will also canvass for his party in Telangana today. He will arrive in Begumpet this evening for a roadshow in Malkajgiri, where he will be joined by the party’s Lok Sabha candidate Eatala Rajender and Union Minister G Kishan Reddy.
The police have issued a traffic advisory for the roadshow and several areas will remain out of bounds for the public until the programme is over.
The PM will stay at the Raj Bhavan overnight and hold a public meeting in Nagarkurnool tomorrow.
The BJP’s pick from Nagarkurnool, P Bharat, is the son of sitting MP P Ramulu.
On Sunday, the PM will join a public meeting of the BJP-TDP-Jana Sena in Chilakaluripeta.
