Is the tide turning for BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi in the state that it is least expected to? The endorsement of the BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate by clerics of two big churches in Kerala is prompting speculation over how well the BJP could do in the state in 2014.
In a week, Modi has received the stamp of approval from two churches in Kerala, institutions that traditionally don't endorse the BJP in any way.
"Followers of the Jacobite faction in Kerala do not have any problems with Modi. We also have believers in Gujarat. They too don't have any difficulties with Modi. In fact, they applaud his developmental efforts," Thomas Mar Timotheos, metropolitan of the Kottayam diocese of the church, was quoted as saying in a Telegraph report.
Support from unexpected quarters for Modi? PTI image
The Hindu reported that the head of the church had endorsed the need for a strong willed Prime Minister and added that there was "a general feeling" that the BJP would come to power in 2014.
Earlier the Gujarat chief minister had received a stamp of approval from Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church Baselios Mar Thoma Paulose II, but the religious leader subsequently withdrew his statement.
The churches of Kerala, though apolitical, have traditionally provided a voter base for the Congress.
The endorsement of the priests needn't make a major difference for Modi in a state that has traditionally never given the BJP a single representative in Parliament. If anything it could result in the Congress wooing them more aggressively, which they wouldn't complain about either.
With the BJP evidently going all out to woo even churches for support for its Prime Ministerial candidate, it remains to be seen if endorsements will translate into any votes for the party.
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