The BJP’s prime ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi, on Sunday virtually launched his party’s campaign for the Lok Sabha election in Kerala, presenting his version of a third political alternative and economic model for the State.
He also reached out to Dalits and backward classes by seeking to debunk the Ranganath Misra Commission’s report on reservation for minorities.
Mr. Modi utilised two major functions, in Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram, to set the agenda for the BJP in the State.
Addressing a mammoth rally on the Shanghumugham beach here, he refined the BJP’s traditional stand against the Left Democratic Front and the United Democratic Front, squarely blaming the formations for the State’s developmental lag.
“It is in Kerala that a third alternative is required against the LDF and the UDF and not at the national level,” he said.
He sought to draw a difference in governance in Gujarat in the last decade and that in Kerala, which had been ruled alternately by the LDF and the UDF.
The Kochi function, organised by a faction of the Kerala Pulayar Maha Sabha, defined the platform the BJP would adopt in the State.
He dwelled on the insecurities of the Dalit communities, which were facing an identity crisis because of the move to bestow the scheduled caste status on those belonging to other religions as per the Misra Commission’s report.
Mr. Modi met Thomas Mar Athanasios, a Metropolitan of the Malankara Orthodox Church.
However, the Metropolitan said the meeting was an informal one. He also met the former Supreme Court judge, V.R. Krishna Iyer.
