THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The trust that the BJP’s central leadership places in entrepreneur-politician Rajeev Chandrasekhar was for all to see as the 60-year-old was raised to the helm of the party’s faction-ridden state unit. The crucial state president post is the third assignment in Kerala that the BJP brass has entrusted the suave and articulate former Union minister.
In 2016, Rajeev was handpicked as the NDA’s Kerala vice chairman with the mission of widening the saffron alliance’s base in the state.
He was instrumental in winning the Bharath Dharma Jana Sena (BDJS) over to the NDA fold. In 2024, he was entrusted with the task of preventing Shashi Tharoor from becoming a four-time Thiruvananthapuram MP. A year after drastically eating into Tharoor’s victory margin in a keenly watched fight comes Rajeev’s third and most crucial assignment of heading the BJP Kerala unit with the dual mission of forging internal unity and significantly expanding its base.
Having spent most of his public life in Karnataka, Critics have termed Rajeev an ‘outsider’. However, with roots in Kerala, he has intervened in many critical issues of the state and also helped address the grievances of many Malayalis living outside the state.
The BJP central leadership believes that entrusting the reins of the party in the hands of a person with a successful entrepreneurial history and a global outlook would draw many educated youth to its fold.
The party’s ongoing efforts to woo the Christian community is also expected to get a shot in the arm given Rajeev’s wider acceptance with hardcore Sangh parivar leaders.
Born on May 31, 1964 in Ahmedabad to Air Force officer M K Chandrasekhar and Andavalli Amma, Rajeev did his graduation in electrical engineering from the Manipal Institute of Technology. After completing his master’s from the Illinois Institute of Technology in the US, Rajeev completed an advanced management programme from Harvard.
After serving as an IT professional for a few years, he married Anju, daughter of BPL group chairman T P G Nambiar. After joining BPL in 1991, he launched its mobile phone division in 1994 which was later merged with a global telecom company. In 2005, he founded the investment firm Jupiter Capital
In 2006, he contested as a BJP-backed independent candidate to the Rajya Sabha from Karnataka. Rajeev, who has been a Rajya Sabha MP for 18 years, secured a berth in the second Narendra Modi government as minister of state for electronics and IT, skill development and entrepreneurship and jal shakti from 2021-24.