Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday made an appeal to the voters of Kerala, who have consistently rejected his party, to support the BJP this time, accusing the ruling and Opposition alliances in the state of being friends outside its borders.

The Prime Minister once again used the dynasty crutch to attack Rahul Gandhi, who is contesting from Wayanad.

“A big leader who has found it difficult to save his family’s seat in UP has shifted his base to Kerala,” Modi told an NDA rally in Kunnamkulam where he campaigned for a bunch of candidates, referring to how Rahul had lost from Amethi in 2019 and has yet to take a call on also contesting from Uttar Pradesh.

Modi accused the Congress in Kerala of striking a deal with a party whose parent organisation has been banned, a reference to the support extended by the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI). While its parent organisation, the Popular Front of India, was banned in September 2022, the SDPI continues to be a legal entity.

“The Congress has made backdoor agreements with an organisation that has been banned for anti-national activities,” Modi said, alluding to the SDPI.

“The Yuvraj (prince) of the Congress will seek votes from Kerala, but will not utter a word about your issues,” Modi said, adding that the people of the state should be careful about both the ruling CPM-led Left Democratic Front and the Congress-helmed United Democratic Front “as they are friends outside the state”.

“The people of Kerala should be careful about the LDF and the UDF. The Congress in Kerala calls the Left extremists. But they sit together and eat from a single plate in Delhi. Both parties are fighting elections together the moment they step out of Kerala,” Modi said, referring to the INDIA bloc partners who are polar opposites in Kerala.

“And the Left parties that used to accuse the Congress of dynastic politics have now joined hands with them and are taking tips on dynasty,”
he added.

The Prime Minister noted that he was the common target for the Left and the Congress. “They formed the INDI alliance because they know that Modi will demolish their sources of loot. So their target is Modi.”

Since the contest in at least 18 of the 20 seats in Kerala is between the LDF and the UDF, the BJP’s chances are limited to Thiruvananthapuram, where minister of state for IT and skill development Rajeev Chandrashekar is challenging Shashi Tharoor of the Congress, and Thrissur where Gopi is in a three-way contest with V.S. Sunil Kumar of the LDF and K. Muraleedharan of the Congress.