Union Home Minister Amit Shah has declared that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will come to power in Kerala in the 2026 State Assembly elections. He was speaking at the BJP ward-level leadership meet held at Putharikandam ground in Thiruvananthapuram. Shah announced that the party would contest in 21,000 wards in the upcoming local body elections and is aiming for a 25% vote share.

He said he has studied and understood Kerala’s politics over the last 15 years and asserted that BJP will establish its strength in Kerala and Tamil Nadu just as it did in Telangana and Karnataka. This, he said, would be a strong reply to those who used to mock BJP as a "North Indian party."

Shah claimed that the Narendra Modi government’s corruption-free and unbiased governance would be implemented in Kerala as well. Criticizing both LDF and UDF, he said they are like brothers when it comes to corruption. He cited examples such as the Karuvannur bank scam, Exalogic case, Life Mission irregularities, and PPE kit scam under LDF rule, and bar bribery, solar scam, and Palarivattom flyover corruption during Congress rule.
In contrast, he claimed that there has not been a single corruption allegation during the 11 years of Modi’s governance.

Speaking about development, Shah stated that Modi’s vision for a "Developed Bharat" is the focus of the central government. “For CPM, development means the advancement of its own cadre, but for BJP, it means progress of the entire nation,” he added.

He also praised Modi for raising India’s image globally, and cited India’s strong retaliatory actions like the surgical strikes following the Uri and Pulwama attacks as evidence of decisive leadership.