Kottayam: BJP national president Amit Shah trained his guns on the UDF and the LDF on Thursday saying the BJP agenda was to throw them out into the Arabian sea. Inaugurating the election convention of BJP candidate V.N. Manoj of Kanjirapally at Manimala, he flayed the statement of senior Congress leader A.K. Antony that the influx of BJP national leaders to the state was for implementing the ‘secret agenda’ of the BJP.
“We have no secret agenda, but only a public agenda, that is to throw out both the fronts. That will be implemented in the coming elections,” he said.
“The CPM says that if the BJP comes to power, communal amity will be damaged. We are ruling in 14 states in the country; let them say where the communal amity is damaged,” he said.
“The CPM is banking on 94-year-old V.S. Achuthanandan to do its campaign. However, we know that if the LDF comes to power, Pinarayi Vijayan will become the chief minister. The LDF should show the courage to declare that Pinarayi is its chief minister candidate,” he said.
BJP leaders V. Muraleedharan, Alphons Kannanthanam, George Kurian and Kerala Congress chairman P.C. Thomas were present at the meeting which was attended by about 4000 people.
Mr Shah refrained from making any communal references and confined himself to attacking both the fronts. Political observers said that the party had chosen Manimala as the venue for his meeting considering the strength of the party in areas such as Karukachal, Nedunkunnam, Pathanad and Chirakkadavu. The party hoped that Mr Shah would be able to convert many votes in favour of the NDA candidate.
“His visit was aimed at strengthening the BJP in the region by consolidating the Hindu votes. The place was selected also to facilitate the arrival of the party workers from different parts of the constituency,” said BJP sources.
“Usually, leaders select the venues on the basis of the feedbacks from the local party cadres about the community presence and the political situation. He did not use the communal card not to alienate the minorities,” Mr A. Jayashankar, a political observer, told DC.
