With only five days remaining for the Kerala Assembly polls, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to turbocharge the NDA campaign on Saturday. The Prime Minister’s itinerary includes a high-profile roadshow in Thiruvananthapuram—targeting the capital’s key 'hot seat'.
PM Modi will hold a road show from Killipalam to Karamana Junction, covering a distance of around 1.5 kms in the evening. Senior BJP leaders, including former Union ministers Rajeev Chandrasekhar and V. Muraleedharan, will take part in the road show.
The BJP has pinned high hopes on Nemom, fielding Rajeev Chandrasekhar, who is also the state president of the party, to reclaim what was once the party's sole gateway to the Kerala Assembly. Seeking to defend the seat is CPI(M) heavyweight and state Education Minister V. Sivankutty, who famously wrested it back from the saffron party in 2021. Adding to the high-stakes triangular contest is the Congress’s K.S. Sabarinadhan, a former MLA looking to stage a UDF comeback in the capital.
Veteran leader O. Rajapopal had won Nemom for the BJP in 2016, marking the party's first-ever Assembly win in Kerala. However, Sivankutty's win in 2021 winning with a margin of 3,949 votes erased the BJP’s sole presence in the Kerala Assembly and dampened the party's hopes to further expand its footprint in the state.
While speaking to PTI, Sivankutty said Chandrasekhar would create no impact in Nemom. "As the Union Minister of State for Skill Development, what exactly had Rajeev Chandrasekhar contributed to Kerala or Nemom?" he asked, adding that as the state minister, he had brought a massive "upgrade" to this sector.
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In the Thiruvanthapuram district, the Vattiyoorkavu constituency is also witnessing a three-way contest. CPI(M)'s sitting MLA V.K Prashanth is hoping to retain the seat, while Congress's V. Muraleedharan is hoping for a political comeback, and BJP's R. Sreelekha is also in the fray.
Another constituency where the stakes are high for the BJP is Kazhakkottam. Senior BJP leader and former minister of State for External Affairs V. Muraleedharan is taking on sitting CPM MLA Kadakampally Surendran. Congress has fielded former MLA T. Sarath Chandra Prasad as its candidate.
BJP had secured a notable 29 per cent vote share in Kazhakkoottam in 2021, making it one of its strongest constituencies in the state.
Besides these seats in the capital district, Palakkad and Manjeshwar also remain the high-stakes battlegrounds for the BJP in Kerala, representing the party's strongest prospects for opening its account in the 2026 Assembly.
