From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network
Bengaluru, Mar 24: Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who served as BJP national president before joining Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet and is regarded as the party’s mastermind strategist ‘Chanakya’ in electoral politics, has entered the Kerala assembly electoral campaign from Tuesday night and held nightlong brainstorming sessions with Kerala party leaders has tasked them to increase BJP’s tally and not rest till the party captures power in the State.
Shah, who has been campaigning in Tamil Nadu, Assam and West Bengal, landed at Thiruvanthapuram in the evening and held strategy sessions with Karnataka’s Deputy Chief Minister and Higher Education Minister Dr C N Ashwath Narayan, who has been entrusted with the responsibility of overseeing the party’s campaign for the April 6 Assembly polls in Kerala and also with Kerala’s BJP in-charge P C Radhakrishnan, organizational general secretary Ganeshan and other leaders. He held another round of talks with Dr Narayan and other leaders on Wednesday morning.
The immediate target of Shah is to ensure that the BJP, which was able to secure a single seat in the last assembly elections, reaches double digit figure or at least 10 or more seats in the April 6 assembly polls in Kerala, according to Dr Narayan.
In a bid to enthuse the BJP leaders, Shah asked them to follow the party’s success model in Tripura. "We were able to barely 0.75% vote share in the CPM ruled Tripura. From such a dismal position, we have managed to come to power. Our vote share in Kerala is 16%. If we can do it in Tripura, can we not repeat it Kerala?’’ he asked and tasked the party leaders to expose the scandals of the Pinarayi Vijayan’s Left Democratic Front (LDF) rule and strengthen the party from the grassroots.
Dr Narayan, who has been camping in Kerala and spending several days meeting party leaders as well as leaders of different religious communities, including the famous Shabarimala temple of Swamy Aiyappa, apprised the Union Home Minister about the scope and opportunities available to BJP from Kasaragod on the border of Karnataka, till Thiruvanathapuram, and also from Pinarayi Vijayan’s home district of Kannur to Palakkad near the Tamil Nadu border.
Amit Shah is believed to have asked the Kerala BJP leaders to continuously campaign against the scandals involving the LDF regime and the previous Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) period and the misrule in the State.
“Our target should be to put an end to the LDF misrule,’’ Shah reportedly advised the Kerala BJP leaders.