While responding to a question about BJP’s low performance in elections in Kerala, Former Union Minister and veteran BJP leader O Rajagopal said that there is 90 per cent literacy in Kerala and that is an issue.
“Kerala is a state with a difference. There are two-three distinguishing factors. There is 90 per cent literacy in Kerala. They are thinking, they are argumentative… These are habits of educated people. That is one issue,” 93 year old Rajagopal who is BJP’s sole MLA in Kerala said to Indian Express.
“The second speciality is the state has 55 per cent Hindus and 45 per cent minorities. So that aspect comes into play into every calculation. That is why Kerala cannot be compared with any other state. The situation here is different. But we are steadily growing. Slow and steady,” Indian Express quoted Rajagopal as saying.
He also claimed that the left seems to have a slight edge and people are afraid of associating with Congress.
One of the major leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party from Kerala, he has held various ministerial portfolios including Defence, Parliamentary Affairs, Urban Development, Law, Justice, Company Affairs, and Railways.
Meanwhile, in a setback for the BJP, assembly election nominations of NDA candidates in three Kerala constituencies have been rejected by the returning officers
