Kerala Education Minister V Sivankutty.
Credit: X/@VSivankuttyCPIM
Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala General Education Minister V Sivankutty on Sunday said the "hollowness" of the BJP's development claims and their divisive agenda would be exposed in the upcoming Assembly polls, and their attempt to win the Nemom assembly seat was not going to materialise at any cost.
According to the senior leader, the BJP's account in Nemom constituency, which he had wrested back in the 2021 assembly polls, would continue to remain closed in the upcoming election also.
Speaking to PTI in an interview, Sivankutty recalled that in 2016, the saffron party had called Nemom the "Gujarat of Kerala." But in 2021, the LDF proved that Nemom is the soil of secularism by defeating their stalwarts.
While admitting that the BJP win in the Thiruvanthapuram Corporation is a "warning sign", the minister attributed it to the consolidation of communal votes and "perhaps some complacency on our part in specific wards." "But an Assembly election is a different ball game. I know the pulse of Nemom. I am with the people there every day. We will expose the hollowness of the BJP's development claims and their divisive agenda. The account I closed in 2021 will remain closed," Sivankutty said.
The minister's remarks follow the announcement that BJP state chief Rajeev Chandrasekhar would contest from Nemom, a stronghold of the saffron party in Thiruvananthapuram, in the assembly election.
The saffron party had opened its account in the state assembly in 2016 with party veteran and former union minister O Rajagopal winning from Nemom with a margin of 8,671 votes.
However, the BJP had lost the segment in the 2021 assembly polls, after senior leader and former Mizoram Governor Kummanam Rajasekharan lost to Sivankutty.
Still, Nemom is one of the segments in which the BJP pins its hope the most in the upcoming polls.
To secure a historic third term for LDF, he emphasised that the front must return to the basics of door-to-door engagement.
It is essential to bridge the gap between the government and the people while actively countering right-wing cyber-propaganda, the senior leader said.
The minister, however, rejected the opposition propaganda that the traditional vote base of the LDF has eroded.
Contrary to the media narratives of an LDF collapse, official Election Commission data reveals that the Left's support base remains intact, he said.
"The apparent gap in vote share is misleading as it excludes LDF-supported independents. Notably, the LDF actually outpolled the NDA in total votes within the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation," he said.
The state government’s proven track record in welfare and development, combined with the stagnation of the BJP's vote share, ensures that the political climate is fully primed for the formation of a third consecutive LDF government, Sivankutty added.
The minister's remarks came days after the CPI (M)-led LDF suffered a major drubbing in the crucial civic polls in the state.
The local body elections in Kerala saw major gains for the UDF, which won four of the six municipal corporations, while the LDF retained Kozhikode and the BJP-led NDA captured the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation.
The UDF also won seven of the 14 district panchayats in the state, with the LDF securing the remaining seven.