The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Kerala seemed buoyed up on Thursday by its remarkable showing in the Assembly elections in four States.
BJP State president K. Surendran said the party’s emphatic win for a second time in Uttar Pradesh should convince the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to stop spreading canards about UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. The people of UP had given a fitting reply to the organised vilification of their Chief Minister by electing Mr. Adityanath to the post again. They had rubbished Mr. Vijayan’s suggestion that UP follow Kerala’s development model. Instead of counselling UP, Mr. Vijayan should adopt Mr. Adityanath's template for developing Kerala.
He said the catastrophic defeat of the Congress in the northern States would reflect in Kerala. The party faced disintegration in the South. “Rahul Gandhi could perhaps deem himself Prime Minister of Wayanad district,” he mocked.
Mr. Surendran said the people of India had reaffirmed their faith in Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The BJP’s win in Manipur and Goa was bound to bear on the party’s prospects in Kerala.
Union Minister of State for External Affairs and BJP leader V. Muraleedharan said the people had endorsed Mr. Modi’s development-oriented politics. Voters had seconded his good governance. The BJP won in States which enacted the Centre’s development agenda. It could successfully tide over the anti-incumbent factor.
The Congress had become synonymous with corruption, nepotism and family rule. The “Priyanka Gandhi experiment” had failed dismally. The Gandhi family’s much-hyped scion could not turn around the Congress’ prospects. The CPI(M)‘s invective against Mr. Adityanath had bombed at the hustings, he said.
