Congress downplays BJP's Thiruvananthapuram win, claims UDF wave in Kerala

The Congress on Saturday downplayed the victory of the BJP in the Thiruvananthapuram municipal corporation, saying no amount of spin can take away from the reality that there is a UDF wave in Kerala and it will be decisively repeated in the 2026 Assembly polls.

AICC general secretary K C Venugopal, who hails from Kerala, termed the BJP's claim of its surge in Kerala as "laughable".

Interestingly, his remarks came after Congress Lok Sabha MP from Thiruvananthapuram Shashi Tharoor congratulated the BJP for the "historic performance" in the city corporation and said "the people's verdict must be respected, whether for the UDF overall or for the BJP in my constituency".

In a post on X, Tharoor said he campaigned for a change from 45 years of the LDF "misrule", but the voters have ultimately rewarded another party that also sought a clear change in governance. "That is the beauty of democracy. The people's verdict must be respected, whether for the UDF overall or for the BJP in my constituency."  He called it a "significant victory in the city Corporation -- a strong showing that marks a notable shift in the capital's political landscape".

But Venugopal said in the final results, the NDA has "0 District Panchayats, 0 Block Panchayats, remains stuck at 2 Municipalities, and is projecting 1 Corporation as a breakthrough".

In Thiruvananthapuram, where NDA claims a "breakthrough", "the data from all parts of Trivandrum outside the Corporation shows a wipeout: 0 District Panchayats, 0 Municipalities, 0 Block Panchayats - and just 6 Grama Panchayats", he said.

"The BJP's media spin projecting a 'surge' in Kerala Local Body Elections is laughable," he said in a post on X.

"No amount of spin can take away from the reality that is as clear as daylight. This is a UDF wave and it will be decisively repeated in the 2026 Assembly election," Venugopal said.

"And the story coming from this election is that the people of Kerala quickly get disillusioned by the BJP. They projected their 2024 Thrissur Lok Sabha victory also as a win, and today the people have given UDF a thumping victory in the Corporation. They also lost 5% vote share from their 2024 Lok Sabha elections performance," he said.

And as for "growth", he said, they managed to gain 7 Gram Panchayats (from 19 to 26 out of 941) since the last elections.

"The verdict Kerala actually delivered is unmistakable: a sweeping Congress-led UDF mandate across every tier," he noted.

The Congress leader said the UDF won 4 of 6 Corporations (+3), stands tall with 7 of 14 District Panchayats (+4), dominates 54 of 86 Municipalities (+12), surges to 79 Block Panchayats (+39), and has established a strong grip over rural Kerala with 505 Grama Panchayats (+164).

"This, while the LDF was also rejected comprehensively. A collapse of 239 Grama Panchayats, 48 Block Panchayats, 14 Municipalities, 4 District Panchayats, and a fall from 5 to 1 Corporations. Be it the cities or the villages of Kerala, they have voted in unison against their disastrous performance," Venugopal said in his post.

In a morale-boosting show ahead of the 2026 Assembly polls, Congress-led UDF on Saturday secured a decisive victory in Kerala's local body elections, dealing a blow to the LDF while the BJP wrested the city civic body from decades of Left control in what Prime Minister Narendra Modi described as the state politics' "watershed moment".