Amit Shah visits Kerala with roadmap to capture two corporations and 10 municipalities
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Amid the Vote chori allegation and the controversial Special Investigation Report in Bihar, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday undertook his second visit to Kerala in two months, after he had earlier outlined the roadmap for the party’s campaign, asking the state unit to secure victories in Thiruvananthapuram and Thrissur corporations and capture at least 10 municipalities.
On the latest trip, Shah reached Kochi for a day-long programme intended to prepare the Bharatiya Janata Party’s state leadership for the upcoming crucial local body elections, and the meeting was attended by Union Ministers of State Suresh Gopi and George Kurian, Kerala BJP president Rajeev Chandrasekhar, former party state presidents Kummanam Rajasekharan, P.K. Krishnadas, V. Muraleedharan and K. Surendran, along with other state office-bearers and district presidents.
The Home Minister’s visit came at a time when he has been emphasising coordinated grassroots mobilisation and a stronger presence in local governance, and the state leadership meeting in Kochi was therefore viewed as a key attempt to energise the cadre and to lay the ground for a more competitive showing, IANS reported.
Kerala’s local governance system comprises 23,612 wards spread across Gram Panchayats, Block Panchayats, District Panchayats, Municipalities and Corporations, and in the last elections in 2020, the Left Democratic Front retained dominance by winning 514 of 941 Gram Panchayats, 108 of 152 Block Panchayats and controlling five of the six Corporations, while the Congress-led United Democratic Front held on to a significant presence, and the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance could only manage a limited number of seats without establishing a major base.
Shah’s renewed focus on Kerala underscored the party’s determination to gain a stronger foothold in the state’s civic bodies, and the leadership meeting in Kochi will be followed by a two-day state-level workshop in Thrissur beginning Saturday, which is expected to deliberate on campaign strategies, candidate selection, and organisational strengthening.
The BJP had struggled to convert its growing vote share into institutional presence in local governance, yet the top leadership believes that a concentrated effort in targeted areas like Thiruvananthapuram and Thrissur could yield breakthroughs, and Shah’s back-to-back visits highlight how seriously the central leadership is treating this electoral round.
Meanwhile, security measures and traffic restrictions were put in place in Kochi from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Friday in view of the Home Minister’s visit, and the state machinery was placed on alert as senior leaders converged on the city for what the party described as an important preparatory session.
