Rajeev Chandrasekhar set to become Kerala BJP chief, why party top brass backing him?

Kerala: Ex-Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar, who was present at Sunday's core committee meeting of the party in Thiruvananthapuram, is likely to submit his nomination for the post of president at the BJP's state office at Mararji Bhavan in Thiruvananthapuram shortly. He is not expected to meet any opposition, and the BJP leaders seemed assured that the election of Chandrasekhar to the post would be unanimous. Chandrasekhar's name will be formally declared at the party conclave on Monday, which will take place at the Uday Palace Convention Centre in Kowdiar, Thiruvananthapuram. Union Minister and senior BJP leader Pralhad Joshi, who is in charge of the party's organisational elections in Kerala, is likely to declare Chandrasekhar's name during the meeting.

Why BJP is supporting him?

Chandrasekhar, who had lost last year's Lok Sabha election from Thiruvananthapuram to Congress' Shashi Tharoor by a mere 16,000 votes, impressed party strategists with his good showing given that he joined the fray belatedly and had only two months at his disposal for campaigning. The Nair by birth, Chandrasekhar is likely to consolidate upper-caste Hindu votes in the state in the forthcoming local body polls and the assembly poll next year.

BJP's search for a leader who can connect with the Christian community

His close relationships with key Ezhava community leader Vellappally Natesan and his kin might also consolidate the BJP's alliance with the Bharat Dharma Jana Sena (BDJS). With the increasing gap between the Christian and Muslim communities in the state – both of which exercise considerable social, economic, and political power – the BJP appears to be searching for a leader who can connect with the Christian community.

Rising political clout of the Muslim community

A section of the Christian community, comprising 19% of the state population and historically being Congress's vote bank, has allegedly become disenchanted with both the Congress-allied United Democratic Front (UDF) and the CPI(M)-aligned Left Democratic Front (LDF) for ignoring Christian issues and the rising political clout of the Muslim community.