"The Congress and Marxists are a dangerous combination as they fight each other in Kerala even as they have joined hands at the Centre. So vote for the BJP," exhorts L K Advani on a campaign trail in Kerala.
"Kerala's coastal areas are the hot-bed of militancy in south India. The Congress party, the Muslim League and the Left parties are all aiding militant tendencies in the state," former BJP president M Venkaiah Naidu.
"Kerala is the best example of a state least developed by modern India's standards. A vibrant, developing Kerala can be your dream only if the BJP is voted to power here," BJP leader Sushma Swaraj.
In the last one-week, prominent Bharatiya Janata Party leaders like L K Advani, Venkaiah Naidu and Sushma Swaraj have been on busy campaign trails across Kerala, exhorting voters to vote for the BJP.
But have these esteemed national leaders of the BJP managed to create an election wave in the party's favour? Can the party once again hope to open its account in the state assembly?
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"Impossible this time also," confides C K Gopalan, a staunch Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh leader from Manjeswaram, the constituency in Kerala's northern most Kasargode district, bordering Karnataka.
Gopalan feels that BJP has not yet understood the political and electoral pulse in Kerala.
"I think the BJP state unit has never been in good shape. That is one reason why the party has never bagged an assembly seat in Kerala," he adds.
All these years, while the BJP succeeded in penetrating the vote banks of the Congress and the regional parties in other southern Indian states like Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, Kerala still remains the party's biggest political challenge.
Knowing this, leaders like Advani, Naidu and Swaraj are sweating it hard across the state. "We will open an account this time in Kerala," assures Naidu, during a chat with rediff.com just after a day of hectic campaigning in central Kerala.
He explains: "We are this time confident of opening our account in the state because the people of Kerala are fed up with the Congress and Left parties, both of whom are communal and corrupt."
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On why Kerala remained the most difficult state for the party to enter, Naidu observes, "It is mainly because traditionally, the people of Kerala have remained conservative by either voting for the UDF or the LDF."
"This time," he assures, "we are going to break this political tradition in Kerala."
The BJP leader confident adds that the lotus 'will' bloom in two assembly segments -- Palakkad and Manjeswaram.
Travel to Palakkad to see if Naidu's claim will turn true. BJP's most prominent leader from the state, O Rajagopal, who was a minister in the Vajpayee government is the party's candidate in Palakkad.
'BJP will open account in Kerala'
Local leaders say Rajagopal has a good chance considering the large support base that the BJP enjoys in the constituency bordering Tamil Nadu. Rajagopal himself is confident. "This time, we will bag this seat," he says.
"The Congress and Marxists are bogus parties. They are also a dangerous combination. They are sleeping together at the Centre; and in Kerala they are fighting each other," Rajagopal charges.
He claims that BJP's votes have determined the winners and losers in the state. We contested 140 seats in the 2001 assembly polls and received 5.8 per cent votes. In the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP's vote share rose to 8.05 per cent. "BJP has emerged as a force to reckon with in Kerala politics," he points out.
But local Congress leader K Madhu says people in Kerala look at the BJP as 'an anathema.'
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"Voters here are educated and politically conscious. They will not accept BJP as a secular political party. They will not get mental peace if they vote for the BJP here," says Madhu.
So how many seats would the BJP get in Kerala? "Zero," he declares.
Meanwhile, in the northern-most constituency of Manjeswaram -- another area of electoral hope for the BJP things seem much different from that in Palakkad. "Nobody has a heart for the BJP in Kerala," says local tea-shop owner Kireedath Kunjumon.
But despite the heavy odds, former BJP central committee member R Narayana Bhatt, who is contesting the Manjeswaram seat, is touring the area seeking votes.
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"The BJP will open the Kerala account this time. And I will be the party's first legislator in the Kerala assembly," Bhatt declares.
Talking about Manjeswaram, it is a unique constituency. It is an area where nearly 70 of the population does not speak Malayalam, but Kannada, and the remaining 30 per cent speak half-a-dozen south Indian languages.
BJP believes that this extraordinary confluence of culture and languages makes Manjeswaram the ideal constituency for the party to score a win in the Kerala elections.
However, not many believe that the Lotus will bloom in Kerala, this time too.
Also See:
The Poll Talkshop
Elections '06: Ask the Pundit
Rediff Assembly Polls Blog
