Making his maiden trip to Kerala after taking over as BJP president, Amit Shah will be addressing party leaders and grass root-level functionaries Monday in a bid to galvanise the party in the state where it has consistently failed to make an electoral breakthrough.
Shah, who will be reaching here tonight, will attend a meet of state office-bearers on Monday morning and address a larger convergence of over 6000 party functionaries up from the grassroot level party tier, party sources said.
Mr. Shah’s visit also assumes significance against the backdrop of factional tussles in the state and the internal debate over luring allies in Kerala, whose polity has been dominated by rival coalitions led by the Congress and CPI(M).
According to political observers, though BJP has grown in membership and support base in the state over the years it still finds it difficult to attract smaller parties as allies.
This is especially so since the Muslims and Christian minorities are key factors in deciding the electoral outcome in most constituencies and whose support has been overtly and covertly solicited by the opposing fronts to bolster their strength.
Though certain sections in BJP in the state are not averse to woo a party like Christian—dominated Kerala Congress (M), this suggestion has met with cold response from a dominant section in the state leadership.
Mr. Shah is expected to spell out the national leadership’s views on strengthening the organisation and expanding its support base.
Significantly, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat has been in Kerala for the last few days, mostly interacting with senior state functionaries of the outfit.
