SAFFRON COATING RUNS A LITTLE THIN

It's promising a 'political coup' in the upcoming local body polls tally, but of late the BJP has hit a few speed bumps

- Jeemon Jacob

THEY ARE CALLING IT THE 'SEMI-FINAL' in Kerala, the local self-government (LSG) polls scheduled for December 9 and 11. The CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front and the Congress-led United Democratic Front are the traditional battlers, but the BJP, riding on the momentum of the stupendous win in Bihar, is hoping to stage a few surprises. It has certainly been prepping for it-way back in late July, the state unit led by ex-Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar had activated a 100-day 'Mission Countdown 2025' clock in all district offices, targeting the poll.

That was just the beginning. Membership and voter enrolment drives, party workshops, new ward committees it's been a busy three months. In the 2020 LSG polls, the BJP had won a modest 10 village panchayats (out of the total 941) but also two key municipalities, Palakkad and Pandalam. More importantly, they finished second in two of the five corporations-Kollam and capital Thiruvananthapuram.