BJP renews focus in Kerala to OBC outreach; plans to position itself as 'real opposition' in state Assembly

Thiruvananthapuram: With the BJP geared up to improve its footprint in Kerala, the Kerala Assembly is all likely to witness the three BJP MLAs marking their presence by targeting both the ruling Congress-led United Democratic Front and the opposition CPM-led Left Democratic Front.

A 13 point political agenda already rolled out by the BJP stresses on OBC outreach and resistance against appeasement politics. The saffron party already launched a campaign that the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) was dictating terms to the Congress even in the selection of V D Satheesan as the Chief Minister.

These developments make the BJP's political agendas quite clear.

The BJP MLAs, including party state president Rajeev Chandrasekhar and former minister of state for external affairs V Murleedharan, will be able to raise BJP's versions on a host of issues like PM SHRI where the Congress and CPM are on the same path.

The BJP aims at positioning itself as the 'real opposition' in the Kerala assembly by campaigning that Congress-UDF and CPM-LDF are two sides of the same coin as they are part of the I.N.D.I.A. bloc.

The BJP camps are highlighting that the people of Kerala already started seriously considering BJP-NDA as a real third alternative in Kerala and hence three MLAs were elected and over 30 lakh people voted for the party, despite the intense 'misleading campaigns' by both the UDF and the LDF over issues like Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act.

With its Christian outreach efforts not delivering the desired results, especially in view of the back to back instances of attack on the community members by Sangh Parivar outfits in BJP ruled states, the saffron party is now shifting focus on OBC and dalit outreach.

The 13 point agenda unveiled after the party core committee meeting the other day says that religion based reservation under the cover of OBC reservations should be done away with and reservation should be only on the basis of OBC (Other backward classes), Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes and Economically weaker sections.

Senior political analyst and social activist M N Karassery said that even as the BJP won't be able to make an impact in the Assembly proceedings with three MLAs, they could get more media attention. He also holds the Congress, CPM and IUML responsible for facilitating BJP's growth in Kerala.

"If the BJP is growing in Kerala, the CPM, Congress and the IUML are also responsible for it as they are giving BJP opportunities to trigger communalism. Though the BJP may be able to take forward its growth, it will be difficult for them to emerge as a ruling party in Kerala in the near future owing to their acts against the minority communities that constitute 45 percent of Kerala's population," he said.