Plan likely to be replicated in Assembly polls too

A sizeable section of hardcore Sangh Parivar cadre are understood to have voted in favour of the United Democratic Front in 14 of the 20 Lok Sabha segments as part of its long-term strategy to decimate the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] and set the ground for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to foray into the State.

Sources privy to those who ironed out the strategy told The Hindu that except in Thiruvananthapuram, Attingal, Pathanamthitta and Thrissur, billed as A+ segments, and Malappuram and Ponnani, the strongholds of the Indian Union Muslim League, the top BJP leadership had tacitly directed its core workers and their families to vote for the UDF.

The strategy was to focus its organisational might in four segments and field candidates in other constituencies without affording even a cue to the National Democratic Alliance allies and its rivals.

The Sangh Parivar was confident of securing a comfortable win in Thiruvananthapuram and Pathanamthitta and registering an impressive tally in Attingal and Thrissur on the strength of the mileage it gained in the Sabarimala agitation.

BJP-RSS row

The debacle in Thiruvananthapuram has already triggered a row between the BJP and the RSS, with a host of party leaders accusing the Sangh of micro-managing the campaign and jeopardising the prospects. According to a communication circulated among a section of party workers, they have decided to inform the national leadership of the issue.

The BJP, sources said, aims at getting the maximum number of representatives in the local body elections due in 2020 to bolster the party machinery and to gain a pan-Kerala presence ahead of the Assembly elections. The Sangh Parivar is likely to replicate the Lok Sabha poll strategy in the Assembly election too — to focus on select segments, and vote for the UDF in others to ensure the rout of the CPI(M), even in the Left bastions such as Kannur and Kasaragod, sources said.

The Sabarimala impact

The State BJP leadership still remains confused in gauging the real impact of the Sabarimala agitation, but a prominent section of the national Sangh leaders have apparently concluded that it was a success.

They feel the agitation has helped create an impression that the CPI(M) and the Left Democratic Front are against Hindus and has put the State government in the dock for implementing the Supreme Court verdict.

These developments, they hope, will help the BJP gain considerable foothold in the State. The agitation, the leaders feel, has helped its television channel ‘Janam’ gain access among the middle class and thus reach out to its target audience of Hindus, sources said.