V.V. Rajesh scripts history as BJP's first Mayor in Kerala

Thiruvananthapuram, Dec 26 Forty-nine-year-old V. V. Rajesh on Friday entered record books as the first Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader to become Mayor of the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation, marking a watershed moment in Kerala's political landscape.

While Rajesh on Friday won with 51 votes, the CPI(M) led Left candidate R.P. Shivaji got 29, and the Congress-led UDF and former legislator K.S. Sabarinathan secured 19 votes, and one independent councillor abstained from the voting.

Rajesh now joins a short list of BJP trailblazers in Kerala, after O. Rajagopal, the party's first MLA in 2016, and actor-turned-politician Suresh Gopi, who became the BJP's first Lok Sabha MP from the State in 2024.

Rajesh's mayoralty signals a new chapter for the BJP in Kerala's urban politics.

The breakthrough came late on Thursday night when the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) secured the support of independent councillor P. Radhakrishnan, taking its tally from 50 to the crucial majority mark of 51 in the 101-member corporation.

With this, Rajesh's victory in the mayoral election became a foregone conclusion.

The NDA's emergence as the single largest bloc itself was unprecedented.

In the December 9 local body elections, the BJP stunned the political establishment by winning 50 of the 100 wards that went to polls, ending nearly 45 years of CPI(M) dominance in the State capital's civic body.

The Left Democratic Front (LDF) was reduced to 29 seats, while the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) managed 19.

Two wards were won by independents, and polling in one ward was postponed following the death of a candidate.

At a meeting of newly-elected councillors at the BJP office on Thursday, party general secretary S. Suresh announced Rajesh as the mayoral candidate and Asha Nath as the Deputy Mayor nominee.

At the meeting, Asha Nath, a three-time councillor, was announced as the party's Deputy Mayor candidate.

Rajesh's elevation follows days of intense internal deliberations within the BJP. State president Rajeev Chandrasekhar made two trips to New Delhi for consultations, highlighting the national leadership's involvement.

The party was reportedly divided between Rajesh and former Director General of Police R. Sreelekha, before consensus emerged in Rajesh's favour, with strong backing from the RSS.

Present on the occasion to greet the new Mayor included Union Minister Suresh Gopi, State BJP president Rajeev Chandrasekhar, his predecessors K.Surendran, Kummanam Rajasekharan, former MoS V. Muraleedharan and several others.

"This should have happened last time. Now that we are here, slowly things will change across the state," said Gopi.

Earlier in the day, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan called Rajesh to congratulate him.

BJP supporters were present in large numbers, and as soon as the results came, there was intense sloganeering and bursting of crackers.

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