Lotus should bloom in Kerala in '26 assembly polls: Nadda to workers

Thiruvananthapuram: BJP national president JP Nadda urged party workers to make lotus bloom in Kerala in the 2026 assembly elections. Nadda is on his first visit to the Malayalam state since Suresh Gopi won the Thrissur seat for BJP with flying colors in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections, which brought back BJP to power in the Centre.

Nadda slammed the Congress and the Communist parties and accused them of being "ideologically bankrupt" and "power hungry."

Nadda said that the Communists were also emulating the Congress by promoting their own sons and daughters.

"You know what I mean," he said, addressing a large gathering of party leaders, workers, and supporters in the Kerala capital.

The BJP chief, on his first visit to Kerala after the recent Lok Sabha polls, further attacked the Congress, terming it a "parasite" that won seats in the general elections this year thanks to the help and support of regional parties.

"They (Congress) are like parasites. They have a poor strike rate on their own. They won only two of the 60-plus seats where they were competing directly against the BJP.

"It (Congress) is a party walking on crutches and cannot stand on its own two feet. They have a national presence thanks to the support of the regional parties," Nadda said

He further said that a narrative was created that the BJP was a North Indian party. "No. Now, we are an all-India party, which includes southern India as well. The lotus has bloomed in the Lok Sabha from the South," the BJP chief said.

Nadda went on to say that the LS poll results showed that the people voted for stability and continuity, and, therefore, the NDA came to power for a third consecutive time- the first in 60 years- at the Centre.