Amit Shah meets BJP, Sangh leaders in Kerala
Team Udayavani, Jun 4, 2017, 9:30 AM IST
Thiruvananthapuram: BJP President Amit Shah on Saturday held a series of meetings with office bearers of the party and the RSS as part of efforts to strengthen the party base in Kerala ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
Shah, who arrived here on the second leg of his Kerala tour, began with garlanding the statue of social reformer and dalit leader Ayyankali.
He will also interact with social leaders today. Shah’s three-day visit is aimed at wooing the dalits and the minority communites in the state, where the party has been struggling to get a foothold.
The BJP leader had on Friday met Church heads, including Cardinal George Alencherry of the Syro-Malabar Church, in an effort to woo the minority community, which accounted for 18-20 per cent of votes in Kerala.
Referring to the frequent attacks on BJP cadres by CPI(M), Shah had said the growth of his party cannot be stopped by violent means.
Addressing a party meeting in Kochi on Friday, Shah had said the southern state was “important” in the BJP’s strategy for the 2019 Lok Sabha election.
He had said the BJP, which had won several Assembly polls in the country after the 2014 Lok Sabha election, would not be “fully satisfied” till it tasted victory in the Kerala Assembly polls.
Meanwhile, CPI(M) state Secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan took a dig at Shah saying he had come to Kerala during the 2016 assembly polls stating that the saffron party would win 70 plus of the total 140 seats, but got just one seat.
“Now Shah has come to say that they will bag maximum parliament seats. This desire will not succeed,” he said.
At a time when the country is facing a crisis due to the Centre’s ban on sale of cattle in animal markets for slaughter, the BJP leader has come to the state to woo the minority communities into NDA, Balakrishnan said.
The BJP does not have a single MP in the lower house from the state, which has 20 seats. In 2014 Lok Sabha elections, its efforts to win a couple of seats had crashed, he said.
In the assembly, the BJP managed to win a single seat from the state capital constituency of Nemom.
Udayavani is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel and stay updated with the latest news.
Top News
Related Articles More
ISRO releases ISSAR 2023 report on vulnerability of space assets to collisions
No CM can remain absent for long, it’s against national interest: Delhi HC on Kejriwal
Court convicts four accused, acquits 10 in 2015 Malvani hooch tragedy
ICG apprehends Indian fishing boat with 173 kg of narcotics; two crew members detained
Ahead of phase 3 polls, Congress and BJP spar in MP over quotas, Muslim appeasement
MUST WATCH
Latest Additions
ISRO releases ISSAR 2023 report on vulnerability of space assets to collisions
Hunasagi: MLA Bairati Basavaraj’s car overturned
No CM can remain absent for long, it’s against national interest: Delhi HC on Kejriwal
Cricket for the Blind: A Transformative Journey Empowering Visually Impaired Athletes
China lifts restrictions, gives all clear nod for Tesla cars as Musk lobbies hard in surprise visit to Beijing