BJP won’t open account in Kerala; welfare push to aid UDF win: Venugopal

In a forceful and sweeping political assertion, Congress general secretary K.C. Venugopal on Wednesday dismissed the prospects of the BJP in Kerala, declaring with confidence that the party “will not be able to open its account” in the state, while expressing strong faith in the United Democratic Front’s (UDF) welfare-driven roadmap to secure victory.

Speaking with a blend of conviction and political sharpness, Venugopal brushed aside the perception of the BJP as a serious challenger, describing its recent electoral gains in local body polls as merely “nominal” and lacking any substantive impact. According to him, the narrative of a rising BJP in Kerala is more illusion than reality.

At the heart of the UDF’s campaign, he emphasised, lies a carefully crafted set of welfare guarantees — modeled on the Congress’ successful promises in Karnataka and Telangana. These include free bus travel for women, financial assistance for female students, enhanced pensions, and robust health insurance coverage. Venugopal portrayed these measures not as populist pledges, but as the outcome of deliberate economic assessment and a response to the lived struggles of women across Kerala.

With evocative imagery, he highlighted the silent burdens borne by working women — be they agricultural labourers, MGNREGA workers, cashew workers, or fisherwomen — describing their daily lives as weighed down by immense pressure and hardship. The proposed welfare measures, he suggested, are both an acknowledgment of their struggles and a commitment to easing them.

On the question of leadership, Venugopal remained consistent with the Congress tradition, stating that the party would not project a chief ministerial face ahead of the elections. Leadership, he implied, would emerge organically after the mandate, guided by collective wisdom rather than pre-declared personalities.

Framing the upcoming election as a referendum on governance, he argued that Kerala’s electorate is yearning for change after a decade under the Left Democratic Front. Alleging widespread dissatisfaction across sections — youth, women, farmers, and labourers — he painted a picture of a government increasingly disconnected from public sentiment.

Sharpening his critique, Venugopal also raised allegations of corruption, citing the issuance of bar licences without mandatory tourism classification and referencing the Sabarimala gold loss controversy as emblematic of administrative lapses.

In his telling, the UDF’s promise is not merely electoral — it is aspirational: a vision of cleaner governance, renewed public trust, and a state that listens more closely to its people.

With PTI inputs