PM to address five rallies in Kerala

Thiruvananthapuram, Apr 26: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address five election rallies early next month for the May 16 assembly elections in Kerala, where the BJP is trying hard to open its account.

Modi will kickstart his election campaign in the state by addressing a rally at Palakkad on May 6. The PM will address another rally in Thiruvananthapuram on May 8.

Three other rallies have been planned at Kasaragod, Alapuzha and Ernakulam tentatively either on May 11 or May 12. Giving details of election programmes of top party leaders, BJP state President Kummanam Rajasekharan said besides Modi, party President Amit Shah and 10 union ministers will be addressing rallies in different parts of the state.

Amit Shah, who will be arriving in the state on May 1, will be camping till May 14. Union Home Minister, Rajnath singh, will be in Kerala for a two-day campaign from May 6.

Besides, his cabinet colleagues Venkaiah Naidu, Smriti Irani, Sadananda Gowda are among those who would be in Kerala for a hectic campaign schedule.

BJP, which has tied up with the BDJS (Bharatiya Dharma Jana Sena), a party floated by the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam (SNDP), an organisation of the backward Ezhava community and other small parties, is making an all out effort to enter the state assembly for the first time.

Out of the 140 assembly seats at stake in the state, BJP has put up candidates in 97 constituencies and BDJS in 37, leaving the remaining seats to smaller parties.

Former union minister, O Rajagopal, Rajasekharan and cricketer Sreesanth are among the prominent candidates of the saffron party which has so far not won a single seat in the state assembly or Parliament from Kerala. The party has put up a good showing in the civic elections in last year.

PTI