Senior BJP chief VV Rajesh, one of many key faces of the occasion within the state capital, was sworn in because the mayor of Thiruvananthapuram Municipal Company on Friday.
Within the latest elections, the Bharatiya Janata Get together received 50 out of 101 seats, rising as the only largest company occasion and ending the 45-year consecutive rule of the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Entrance (LDF). Elections in a single district had been postponed because of the demise of a candidate throughout the election interval.
Rajesh, who’s at the moment one of many nationwide secretaries of the Bharatiya Janata Get together, has been serving as a councilor since 2020. The latest elections noticed the occasion re-enter the sector after it clinched key battles within the state capital area, which is essential to its electoral plans in Kerala.
Within the 2021 meeting elections, Rajesh, then the district president of the Bharatiya Janata Get together, unsuccessfully contested from the Vattiyoorkavu seat within the company constituency.
The 50-year-old chief rose via the RSS scholar group ABVP. He served as state joint secretary and nationwide govt committee member of ABVP. The legislation graduate later grew to become state vice-president and president of the Bharatiya Janata Get together Yuva Morcha (BJYM), the youth wing of the BJP. Throughout his days with BJYM, Rajesh agitated towards the federal government a number of occasions within the state capital, which helped him emerge because the occasion’s main face.
Rajesh has tried his luck within the state meeting elections 3 times. He contested from Vattiyoorkavu seat in 2011 and 2021 and from Nedumangad seat in 2016. Regardless of shedding all of the elections, Rajesh proved that he can enhance the occasion’s vote share. In 2011, when he was contesting from Vattiyoorkavu, Rajesh acquired simply over 13,400 votes, however in 2021, a decade later, he has the potential to extend that determine to 39,500 votes. In Nedumangad seat, the place the BJP received just one,250 votes in 2011, Rajesh managed to win over 35,000 votes in 2016.
On Thursday, a day earlier than voting to elect the mayor and deputy mayor, the Bharatiya Janata Get together secured the assist of unbiased lawmaker Radhakrishnan. Asha Nath GS, a three-time municipal councilor of the Bharatiya Janata Get together, was elected deputy mayor.
It was broadly believed that the mayor’s seat would go to R. Sreelekha, a former DGP and first IPS officer from Kerala who received the primary civic physique elections. Nonetheless, the Bharatiya Janata Get together has determined to assist its senior chief who has been elevated to the mayor’s submit.
Rajesh, a former occasion spokesperson and a fixture on TV debates, has been on the forefront of the agitation.
In 2018, when the Bharatiya Janata Get together led large protests towards the entry of menstruating ladies into the sanctum sanctorum of the Sabarimala temple, Rajesh had led the agitation within the state capital. He confronted felony proceedings on this regard not solely in Sabarimala but in addition in Thiruvananthapuram.
By deciding on Rajesh as the company chief, the Bharatiya Janata Get together has despatched a robust message that its leaders and cadres, who’ve labored exhausting for many years, are vital to the occasion. These days, the Bharatiya Janata Get together in Kerala has confronted allegations that it has been sidelining those that labored for the occasion and selling wealth seekers and traitors from different events to key parliamentary posts. He additionally belongs to the Hindu Nile group, which is predominant within the state capital area.
After being elected mayor, Rajesh informed the media, “Within the subsequent 5 years, the capital will likely be reworked into one of many three most developed cities within the nation. All 101 wards of town will likely be thought of as one unit relating to growth. We’re representatives of the political occasion that guidelines the nation. Within the company, we’ve members from the occasion that guidelines the state and members from the outdated nice occasion. The council additionally consists of former members as members. The expertise of all of the members will likely be utilized for the event of town.” Metropolis. ”
He additionally reiterated the occasion’s poll-time promise that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would go to the state capital inside 45 days to announce new tasks if the occasion is voted to energy.
Sreelekha, one of many occasion’s state vice presidents, had been the frontrunner for the mayor’s submit from the day his candidacy was declared, however he left the mayor’s oath-taking ceremony disillusioned. After the ceremony, Rajesh rushed to Sreelekha’s home to make sure that the meeting proceeded easily.
