Amit Shah to visit Kerala on Sunday to lead BJP's poll preparations

Kochi: Union 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 is expected to share some insights with party leaders and ward members on ways to extend the recent electoral gains and amplify 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 Rajeev Chandrasekhar, emerged single largest in Thiruvananthapuram, and also surprised 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 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. BJP had promised to get the PM 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 budget.

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.