Finally, lotus blooms in Kerala

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The success of BJP in Nemom during the recent local body elections and the overwhelming support O. Rajagopal enjoyed in this segment during his unsuccessful bid for Lok Sabha in 2014 clearly indicated that this could be a fertile soil for the lotus to bloom.

V. Sivankutty, who was held answerable for the setbacks in the corporation elections last year, could not hold the fort against Mr Rajagopal's assault as he did in 2011 when he won by a margin of 6,415 votes. In the civic polls, the BJP had won 11 corporation wards here, including Thirumala, Valiyavila, Poojapura, Karamana, Thrikkannapuram, Nemom,Punnakkamugal, Pappanamcode and Kamaleswaram.

In a tete-a-tete to this newspaper on November 8, 2015, BJP district president S. Suresh had claimed that it would reflect in the assembly elections. During parliamentary elections, Mr Rajagopal had got 19,042 more votes than winning candidate Shashi Tharoor here in spite of latter’s triumph with the help of coastal votes.

Nemom had shown a rightward trend in 1987 itself as present BJP state president Kummanam Rajasekharan had lost in a closely fought battle with K Sankaranarayana Pillai. Mr Pillai then scraped through by a margin of just 652 votes. During recent local body elections, nine corporation wards under Vattiyoorkavu assembly constituency and four in Kazhakoottam had swung to the BJP..