O Rajagopal scripts history: Meet the man who won the sole seat for BJP in Kerala elections

BJP’s O Rajagopal, is the man of the moment for the party in Kerala! Rajagopal an old party veteran is the sole BJP candidate to have won in the southern state. This is the first time BJP has won a state assembly seat in Kerala.

Rajagopal, who fought from Kerala’s Nemom, is an 87-year-old political veteran. The victory will be a turning point in politician’s life who tasted the bitterness of defeat six times from Mancheri in 1989 to the Aruvikkara by-election in last year.

Due to the low odds of election in the state of Kerala, Rajagopal represented Madhya Pradesh (a state he is not domiciled in) in the Rajya Sabha from 1992 until 2004.

Rajagopal’s early education took place in Kanakkannoor elementary school and Manjapra Upper Primary school and later went to Government Victoria College, Palakkad.

His law education was undertaken in Chennai and after he completed his studies in law, he began practicing law in 1956 at the Palakkad District Court.
He was the State General Secretary of Jana Sangh until 1974. That same year, he was promoted to the post of President, a post he held until 1977.

In the Emergency period he was jailed with Mr. V. Velankutty Master (Palakkad District President of Jansangh) in Viyyur Central Jail. After the Indian emergency the Jana Sangh merged with the Janata Party. During this period of time Rajagopal served as the State General Secretary for the Jana Sangh.

In 1980, the Janata Party split and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was formed. Rajagopal then served as its Kerala president until 1985.After 1985 he occupied a number of positions, including the All India Secretary, General Secretary, and the Vice President of BJP.

In the 2011 Assembly elctions he contested from the Nemom constituency in Thiruvananthapuram and was speculated to win, but eventually lost by a margin of 6,400 votes. He lost the by-election from Neyyattinkara constituency, which was held on June 2, 2012.

BJP had been banking heavily on the former Union minister O Rajagopal, the face of the party in the state for more than two decades, to create history. Among the five Assembly elections in April-June, it was a high-stakes campaign for the BJP in Kerala. Bagging a seat in this politically-polarised state is a major achievement for the party, which is in alliance in Kerala with the newly formed caste-oriented Bharath Dharma Jana Sena (BDJS).