Kerala civic body polls bring cheers and tears for BJP
Thiruvananthapuram: The BJP in Kerala has braved many odds to make its presence felt in the state's bipolar politics, dominated for decades by the traditional coalitions-CPI(M)-led LDF and Congress-headed UDF.
But, once again the saffron party has failed to create magic in electoral politics in the southern state as it couldn't perform according to its expectations when the counting for the crucial local body polls was taken up on Wednesday.
Though compared to the 2015 civic body polls the BJP-NDAimproved its tally and added more number of seats to its credit, they could not display a stellar performance as they claimed during the time of campaigning.
The failure of some of its major leaders and the loss of many sitting seats also took the sheen off their performance at the local body polls, which was generally considered a pointer to the assembly elections due next year. According to party sources, the saffron party managed to win seats between 1600-1800 in the present civic polls though the Election Commission was yet to release the official figures of the total seats and vote share.
They could also reach second position in over 500 wards besides retaining the Palakkad municipality and wresting the Pandalam municipality from the LDF. But, their target to garner 2500-3000 seats and capture the prestigious Thiruvananthapuram and Thrissur Corporations remained a distant dream.
Throughout the high-voltage campaign, the party leadership had claimed that they would capture the Corporation in the state capital and there would be a BJP mayor to welcome Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the airport when he arrives here next time.
Not only that the long-drawn dream did shatter but also they had to see the ruling front achieving simple majority in Thiruvananthapuram Corporation by improving their performance compared to the previous time.
Though they could successfully make inroads in many parts of the state, once dominated by either LDF or UDF, the saffron front was yet to gain the trust or confidence of the minority communities completely in the state.
