Prime Minister Narendra Modi extended a gesture of outreach to the Christian community, which holds considerable influence in the southern district. Additionally, he highlighted Anil K Antony, the son of Congress veteran and former Union Minister A K Antony, as a symbol of youth during his address.
This is the kind of freshness that is required in Kerala politics, Modi said, referring to Anil Antony who had left the Congress and joined the BJP last year and is the saffron party's candidate from the Pathanamthitta Lok Sabha constituency.
Speaking before a sizable assembly of NDA supporters and workers, the Prime Minister said that during the previous Lok Sabha elections in 2019, the BJP secured a vote percentage in double digits. Consequently, he expressed confidence that the goal of achieving double-digit seats from Kerala is within close reach.
In the last elections, the people of Kerala made us the double-digit vote percentage party. And now, our destiny of double-digit seats here is not so far, he said. Lotus is going to bloom in Kerala this time.
Modi extended his outreach to the Christian community, notable for its significant presence in the southern district, by recounting his meeting with Pope Francis at the Vatican.
In what seemed like a direct allusion to the recent incident involving a vehicle striking a Catholic priest in Poonjar, Kottayam district, Modi remarked, It is unfortunate that even church priests in Kerala are not immune to violence. He further criticized the ruling LDF led by the CPI(M) and the opposition UDF led by the Congress in Kerala, asserting that the state's populace has endured successive terms of corrupt and inept governance under these two fronts.
During his address at the public campaign for BJP-led NDA candidates in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, Modi asserted that the citizens of the state have faced difficulties under the governance of both the LDF and UDF, citing allegations of corruption and incompetence within their administrations.