Hindutva to be base of BJP poll strategy

The BJP Central leadership has chalked out a multi-pronged strategy, including sticking to its key Hindutva ideology, to be adopted for its State unit for the upcoming Assembly polls.

Sources said that the BJP national office-bearers which met in New Delhi on Sunday decided to go ahead full throttle on its project of attracting members from the two numerically strong Ezhava/Thiyya and Nair communities.

The meeting perceived that the Nair community formed the core base of the BJP in the State and that in the past few years the party has been able to attract the young generation from the Ezhava community as well.

Also, the RSS has been asked to play a major role in electioneering right from the booth-level. As of now, the party is expected to put up a tri-cornered contest in 40-plus segments and could possibly have a chance to win at least 10 seats, the sources said.

NSS factor

However, what bothers the BJP is that the Nair Service Society (NSS) though it has contributed ₹7 lakh for the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya would take a pro-Congress stand Statewide in the polls and support only a few BJP candidates in select segments, the sources said.

Then again a few leaders have been tasked to build a close and harmonious relationship with the SNDP Yogam leaders. This apart, poaching members from both the Congress-led United Democratic Front and the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front and promote friendly relation with various denominations of the Christian community in the run- up to the polls seem to be the other strategies.

A senior party functionary said that the performance of the BJP in recent polls which hovered around with 13-14 % of the total popular votes failed to win seats in a bipolar political structure in the State.

Sreedharan impact

The meeting felt said that the decision of technocrat E. Sreedharan to join the BJP which grabbed the headlines at the national-level gave a fillip to the party. His presence in campaigning or his candidature would help the party refurbish the party’s image among the apolitical sections of society.

Unlike the Lok Sabha polls of 2019, the Central leadership wanted the leaders who regularly contested the polls to be in the race, the sources said.