Amit Shah kicks off three-day visit to Kerala ahead of 2019 Lok Sabha elections
KOCHI: BJP President Amit Shah, who is on a three-day visit to Kerala with the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in mind, got an ecstatic welcome on his arrival at Kochi International Airport on Friday.
Besides interacting with party leaders over organisational work and future plans for BJP in the state, Shah is expected to hold meetings with BJP allies, leaders of various communities and influential people.
Amit Shah is scheduled to attend various party programmes over the next two days in Thiruvananthapuram, including laying the foundation stone for the party headquarters.
After lunch, Shah addressed the state committee meeting of the NDA in Renai Kochi Hotel, Ernakulam. He is also meeting bishops in Kochi, in a bid to “build bridges” with the Christian community which accounts for nearly 20 per cent of the votes.
Amit Shah was taken to Ernakulam guest house, accompanied by a large number of vehicles including hundreds of two wheelers. At the guest house he addressed the party’s state core committee meeting.
Amit Shah took stock of the organisational progress in Kerala and reviewed the steps taken to equip the state unit to face the 2019 parliament elections.
Even though it had to be contended with only one seat, BJP came second in six seats and polled 16 per cent in the 2016 assembly polls from a meagre 6.3 in 2011. In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, BJPs best performance was in Thiruvananthapuram, where it finished second to Shashi Tharoor.
Party national secretary H Raja , state president Kummanam Rajasekharan, senior leader O Rajagopal MLA, vice president PM Velayudhan, state general secretaries A N Radhkrishnan, MT Ramesh, Sobha Surendran, K Surendran, Mahila Morcha state president Renu Suresh, Yuvamorcha national vice president Muruganandan, state president Adv Prakash Babu and several other leaders led the reception which was attended by hundreds of workers.
Several folk art forms such as Kavadiyattam, Theyyam, Shingarimelam, etc added flavour to the colourful occasion.