Analysis | Why BJP chose Rajesh over Sreelekha as Thiruvananthapuram Mayor

There is truth in the claim of BJP insiders that former DGP R Sreelekha was, at no point during the local body poll campaign in Kerala, held up as the BJP's mascot in Thiruvananthapuram.

The proof is in the campaign posters. Except in the Sasthamangalam ward, where she was the BJP candidate, the former DGP's image was not featured in any BJP campaign posters. The only recurring images in these posters were Prime Minister Narendra Modi's, BJP state president Rajeev Chandrasekhar's and Karamana Jayan's, the BJP state secretary who led the Thiruvananthapuram campaign.

"The media saw Sreelekha as a potential Mayor candidate, along with other names like V V Rajesh, Karamana Ajith and M R Gopan. The party did not object to any of the names. If the media saw in this a possibility of a post-election rift, the party saw this as a rich exhibition of its popular local-level faces," a senior BJP leader told Onmanorama.

Why Sreelekha is important
The leader conceded that Sreelekha was special as she supplied the BJP additional worth. "In the urban wards of Thiruvananthapuram where the aspirational middle and upper middle classes reside, a top IPS officer is seen as an embodiment of efficiency and success. Her candidature also told the voters that the BJP was a party that rewarded merit," the leader said.

Sreelekha is also the first civil servant, that too Kerala's first woman IPS officer and one who had risen to the rank of the DGP, to contest in a local body poll in Kerala. It looked like Sreelekha was for Thiruvananthapuram what Kiran Bedi was for the BJP in Delhi in 2015.

However, in Bedi's case, the former 'super cop' was formally declared as the BJP's Chief Minister face. Sreelekha, on the other hand, was just one among the nearly 100 BJP candidates and, after the historic result, was overlooked for the mayor's post.

BJP buys peace with Sreelekha
BJP leaders Onmanorama talked to said she was considered for the top job. "Though there were many names to begin with, the race filtered down to Rajesh and Sreelekha," a former BJP councillor said.

The sense that one gets from talking to BJP leaders is that Sreelekha has been saved for a bigger role. Two BJP leaders told Onmanorama that Sreelekha might be the party's Vattiyoorkavu candidate in the 2026 Assembly polls. It is this promise that seems to have assuaged Sreelekha.

Vattiyoorkavu is an Assembly constituency in Thiruvananthapuram where the BJP has come within sniffing distance of victory. Since 2016, except for the 2019 byelections, the BJP has been runner-up. And in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, BJP's Rajeev Chandrasekhar had 8162 votes more than the winner, Congress's Sashi Tharoor, in this Assembly segment. The just concluded local body polls also saw the BJP improving its performance in the constituency. If it had won nine wards within the Vattiyoorkavu constituency in 2020, this time it won 12. Sreelekha's ward, Sasthamangalam, also falls within the Vattiyoorkavu Assembly.

Sreelekha and BJP ego
Party insiders also argue that it would have been a political misstep to pick Sreelekha as Mayor. "It will look as if the BJP was woefully short of efficient and popular leaders within its ranks that it had to pick an outsider to lead it in a corporation like Thiruvananthapuram. It will not go down well with the party cadre," a BJP source said.

Though Rajeev Chandrasekhar was open to Sreelekha as Mayor, other top leaders including former presidents V Muraleedharan, Kummanam Rajasekharan and K Surendran wanted the BJP triumph to be personified by an insider than an outsider. "This is one of our biggest wins in South India and to have someone not associated with the tradition of the party at the helm can be perceived as a weakness," a BJP leader said.

Wall of protection
Moreover, as another leader said, "Sreelekha's mystery has to be kept intact for the Assembly polls."

"I don't think an inexperienced person like Sreelekha can withstand the brutal offensive that will be unleashed by the CPM in the corporation council. Since the Assembly election is round the corner, the Congress led by Sabarinathan, too, will be hyper aggressive. You need a seasoned politician with the necessary wiles and adequate exposure to the working of the council to withstand such ruthless Opposition onslaughts. Sreelekha is still fresh in politics and her clean image could be tarnished if as a Mayor she is trapped in some fake allegation or manufactured controversy," the leader said.

For the sake of women
The other argument in Sreelekha's favour, that her elevation as Mayor would be a manifestation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Nari Shakthi' slogan, was brushed aside as unconvincing by the party leadership. "Twenty-nine of the BJP's 50 winning councillors are women. What more proof would you require to establish the BJP as the party most sensitive to the concerns of women," a leader said.

Rather than helping their cause, Sreelekha's crowning could have sidelined women BJP councillors. "If Sreelekha was Mayor, Asha Nath would not have been Deputy Mayor. A senior male leader would have been appointed as Sreelekha's deputy," a senior BJP leader said.

"Sreelekha's mayorship, therefore, would have effectively blocked the growth of both male and female BJP councillors moulded in the rigour and discipline of the RSS," the leader said.