Amit Shah to visit Kerala on Sunday to lead BJP’s poll preparations ahead of PM Modi’s campaign

Kochi: Home minister Amit Shah will kickstart BJP’s preparations for the Kerala assembly elections on Sunday by holding meetings with the core committee and newly elected members from across local bodies in the state. He will conduct a series of meetings in Thiruvananthapuram where the party has ambushed the ruling LDF to score a historic win in the recent local body polls.

Shah, seen as BJP’s master election strategist, is expected to share some insights with party leaders and ward members on ways to extend the recent electoral gains and amplifying the party’s influence across the 140 assembly seats. He may even guide on the selection of candidates with an unconventional approach.

The party, led in Kerala by former Union minister of state Rajeev Chandrasekhar, emerged single largest in Thiruvananthapuram, and also surprised political analysts by winning about a dozen seats in Kozhikode corporation in the urban local body polls last month. The ruling LDF is still recovering from the major upset it faced at the hands of the BJP in the state capital, where it had ruled with a vice grip for three decades.


Shah’s trip to Kerala is a precursor to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit later this month in honour of the party’s pledge to voters. The BJP had promised to get PM Modi to the capital if voters backed it in Thiruvananthapuram. Modi may use the occasion to launch BJP’s campaign for the polls due in April and announce a gift or two on the occasion, or later in the coming union budget, weeks before the official announcement of dates.

The BJP may also unveil a roadmap for the development of Thiruvananthapuram, as promised, to project it as a model for other cities in the largely urbanised Kerala.

Modi, in a recent letter, heaped praise on Thiruvananthapuram mayor VV Rajesh, deputy mayor GS Asha Nath, and other ward members for what he called “epoch-making” electoral feat, while predicting a bright future for the party in the southern coastal state.

LDF’s massive setback in the local body polls has injected strong hopes into the BJP, and an even bigger shot of confidence to the combative Congress-led UDF. For the BJP-led NDA, the polls in Kerala follow a series of wins, including in Haryana, Maharashtra, Delhi, and Bihar.

The Kerala BJP, on the face of it, seems to have adopted the strategy of projecting the UDF as its main political rival after the LDF’s big losses in the local body polls.

The UDF has made a forceful comeback in pockets where the LDF held sway. In Kerala, the UDF turned in an impressive show in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, winning 18 out of 20 seats. The BJP, which won Thrissur in a historic feat, is working to increase its vote-share and net some seats.