In search of smaller allies, BJP woos Kerala caste outfit

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“BJP wants support from all social organisations and all communities,” he added.

Natesan was in the Capital to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi, but the meeting failed to materialise as the PM rescheduled his programmes following the demise of former President APJ Abdul Kalam. “Natesan will meet the Prime Minister after August 15,” a BJP leader said.

Natesan, who has always maintained that his organisation would keep equal distance from the two major political fronts — UDF and LDF — in Kerala, said that BJP was not an “untouchable” party.

He  told a Malayalam daily that SNDP was ready to field its members as BJP candidates in the forthcoming elections.

The SNDP leaders, however, said that despite tactical understanding with political fronts from time to time, the community has never gained much.

The BJP, which stunned its rivals by winning 34,145 votes in the recent Aruvikkara Assembly bypoll, has been working to create “awareness on the need to consolidate the Hindu votes in Kerala”, where it claims that two minority communities — Christians and Muslims — dominate the political scene.

Sources claimed that BJP leaders want the Ezhavas, who constitute around 23-25 per cent of the state’s population, and the Nairs, who make 10 per cent, to come together to defeat the Congress-led UDF.

While the UDF’s support base in the state comprises Muslims and Christians (24 per cent and 19 per cent respectively), the LDF relies on Hindu votes. BJP leaders said they were keen to form a political alliance with the SNDP, which has 6,500 branches and 74,000 micro-finance units across the state. They pointed out that even if 10 per cent of Ezhavas and Nairs voted for the BJP, the party’s electoral performance would be impressive.