With O Rajagopal’s victory in Nemam, BJP's Kerala yatra begins

KOCHI: Winning just one seat of the 98 contested would have been seen as a poor show by the BJP in any state, but not in Kerala. In a state where the party toiled long and hard with no success to get some representation beyond local bodies, veteran leader O Rajagopal’s victory in the assembly elections from Nemam constituency is a big achievement.

The party that rules the Centre had adopted a carefully designed strategy for the Kerala elections this time. It fielded some of its key candidates in one district, Thiruvananthapuram, with state party president Kummanam Rajashekharan, former chief V Muralidharan and PK Krishnadas, along with Rajagopal, contesting from adjacent constituencies. To add glamour, cricketer S Sreesanth was fielded from the Thiruvananthapuram seat.

The high-profile campaign that followed had PM Modi, Party national president Amit Shah and a large number of central ministers doing multiple rounds.