amit-shah-to-kickstart-kerala-local-poll-campaign-from-july-12

Union Home Minister Amit Shah will reach here late Friday evening to open the new BJP State Committee Office and kick off the party campaign for the upcoming local body election. Shah will arrive at Thiruvananthapuram airport at around 10 pm, where he will be welcomed by BJP state president Rajeev Chandrasekhar and other senior party leaders, according to an official release.

The official opening of the state office is scheduled at 11 am on Saturday. After entering the campus, Shah will hoist the party flag, plant a sapling in front of the building, and light a traditional lamp. He will also cut a ribbon to symbolically open the new office.

During the ceremony, Shah will also release a bronze half-bust of the late former Bharatiya Janata Party state president KG Marar, which has been put up in the central hall of the new building, party announced in a statement here.

The inauguration will be succeeded by a big ward-level leadership conference at Putharikandam Maidan at 11.30 am, which the Union Minister will also inaugurate.

 

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Approximately 25,000 grassroots leaders representing 5,000 ward committees across Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta, and Alappuzha revenue districts are to attend the event in person, the statement noted.

Party workers from the other 10 revenue districts — five-member ward committees and local-level leaders — will participate virtually from centers in panchayat areas. The BJP estimates that approximately 1.5 lakh individuals will take part in the event online, the statement added.

In the afternoon, Shah will participate in a closed-door meeting of BJP state leaders, where preparations for the coming local body polls in Kerala will be discussed.

Leadership meeting on Saturday will be the official beginning of the party campaign for the local body polls, Chandrasekhar said. He further added that the locals of Kerala want change and the BJP would strive to highlight what he referred as the state government's indifference, particularly in health and education sectors.