On June 9, 2024, quickly after his defeat within the basic elections from the Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha constituency, a submit appeared on entrepreneur-turned-politician Rajeev Chandrasekhar’s web page on X, asserting his exit from electoral politics after an 18-year stint of public service. Inside a couple of minutes, the submit vanished, changed by a clarification that Mr. Chandrasekhar meant the tip of his 18-year-long stint as an MP and three years as a Minister of State. He claimed his staff’s “new younger intern” had brought about the confusion.
Lower than a 12 months later, he’s again within the thick of all of it, with the central management of the Bharatiya Janata Occasion (BJP) appointing him president of the celebration’s Kerala unit. The election defeat additionally most likely contributed to his elevation to the submit, for he gave a detailed struggle to Congress chief Shashi Tharoor, whose margin of victory tumbled from 99,989 to 16,077 votes.
Mr. Chandrasekhar’s appointment comes at an important juncture within the BJP’s political trajectory in Kerala. Till lately, the State remained largely impervious to the Sangh Parivar’s electoral gambits. In 2024, Kerala yielded a Lok Sabha seat to the BJP in Thrissur for the primary time within the State’s electoral historical past, elevating questions on whether or not the win portended the wane of the UDF-LDF revolving door politics. Forward of the native physique polls later this 12 months and the Meeting elections in 2026, the BJP is looking for to construct on this success and to broaden its base, particularly among the many aspirational youthful crowd whom Mr. Chandrasekhar had gone all out to woo in his Lok Sabha marketing campaign.
However he’s additionally an uncommon alternative for the submit, as he has restricted private reference to the native populace. For a change, the celebration has not chosen somebody who has labored the way in which up by way of grassroots politics; as a substitute, it has chosen somebody who entered the celebration’s higher echelons primarily based on his report as a businessman. The celebration could leverage this picture to attraction to the ideologically versatile and apolitical crowd, a constituency efficiently cultivated by Mr. Tharoor.
“Individuals within the State haven’t any belief in politics after 70 years of false guarantees on each fronts. We have to change Kerala from a spot with ‘Nokkukooli’ (gawking wages) to at least one with investments and jobs. There needs to be an NDA authorities within the State to result in this alteration. That is the duty that has been given to me. I’ll return solely after fulfilling this mission,” Mr. Chandrasekhar mentioned quickly after taking cost.
Beginnings
Born because the son of an Indian Air Drive officer, Rajeev Chandrasekhar spent a great a part of his early years in Karnataka. Within the late Eighties, after finishing grasp’s in pc engineering within the U.S., he joined Intel for a three-year stint, which might turn out to be useful when he returned to the nation and have become the manager director of BPL Group, owned by his father-in-law T.P.G. Nambiar. In 1994, he turned one of many first tech entrepreneurs within the nation to launch BPL mobiles, tapping into the rising subject of cellular telephony.
Nonetheless, a decade later, Nambiar approached the Firm Legislation Board, accusing Mr. Chandrasekhar of stealthily growing his stake within the firm with out making a proportional funding, a cost he denied. For practically a 12 months, the feud prevented Mr. Chandrasekhar from promoting his stake as deliberate. However, by 2005, he bought his stake and based Jupiter Capital, an funding and monetary providers agency that now manages belongings throughout a number of sectors.
When Mr. Chandrasekhar formally entered politics in 2006, Karnataka was dominated by the Janata Dal (Secular)-BJP mix — the primary time the saffron celebration was in energy in a South Indian State. He threw his hat within the ring to contest for a Rajya Sabha seat from the State as an Unbiased, with the blessing of each the events in energy.
The gist
Within the late Eighties, Rajeev Chandrasekhar joined Intel for a three-year stint, which might turn out to be useful when he turned the manager director of BPL Group, owned by his father-in-law T.P.G. Nambiar
However, by 2005, Chandrasekhar bought his stake in BPL and based Jupiter Capital, an funding and monetary providers agency that now manages belongings throughout a number of sectors
Across the time of his political entry, he made his foray into media, too, with Jupiter Capital buying a 51% stake in Asianet Communications. In 2017, he co-founded Republic TV with anchor Arnab Goswami
An issue relating to the affect of huge cash in politics and seat allocation surrounded his entry. Author U.R. Ananthamurthy additionally waged an unsuccessful symbolic contest, as a protest in opposition to the entry of businessmen into politics and in opposition to non-Kannadigas representing Kannadigas. Mr. Chandrasekhar would signify Karnataka within the Rajya Sabha for 2 extra phrases, finally changing into the Union Minister of State for Electronics and Info Know-how, Ability Growth and Entrepreneurship, and Jal Shakti in his ultimate time period.
Across the time of his political entry, he made his foray into media, too, with Jupiter Capital buying a 51% stake in Asianet Communications. He later handed over the leisure wing of the group to Rupert Murdoch’s Star Community, whereas retaining the information channel firmly underneath his management. In 2008, the Asianet Information Community additionally launched Asianet Suvarna Information in Kannada. In 2017, Mr. Chandrasekhar co-founded Republic TV with anchor Arnab Goswami.
The various protection of those channels displays Mr. Chandrasekhar’s enterprise acumen in shaping each in accordance with the political realities of the areas and populations it caters to. Though he claims to not get entangled in Asianet editorial issues, a latest controversy over an anchor analysing the growing recognition of Mahakumbh amongst Malayalis, linking it to the BJP’s progress, is instructive. In a public submit crucial of the programme, he wrote: “I’ve instructed them to make sure no careless statements or mockery needs to be made a few sacred occasion attended by lakhs of devotees.”
Political winds
Mr. Chandrasekhar sensed the political winds altering in favour of Narendra Modi fairly early on. He had begun championing him for the highest submit earlier than 2014, a interval throughout which he additionally had his eyes on Thiruvananthapuram. Simply earlier than the 2024 elections, when he lastly landed a Lok Sabha seat, he shifted base from Karnataka to Kerala.
In 2023, the Kerala Police registered circumstances in opposition to him on prices of creating communally instigative social media posts in reference to the blasts at a prayer conference of Jehovah’s Witnesses at Kalamassery in Kochi. His feedback linking the explosions to the CPI(M)’s Palestine solidarity led to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan calling him “extraordinarily toxic”. After he filed the election affidavit, the LDF accused him of withholding particulars of his main holding firm, Jupiter Capital, whereas solely declaring the subsidiary firms. Mr. Chandrasekhar responded that his disclosures had been compliant with the legislation.
On the ceremony the place he took over the BJP’s factional feud-ridden State unit, with too many leaders vying for the highest submit, all of them united in welcoming him. Kerala has all the time remained elusive for the BJP. The celebration doesn’t have even a single MLA within the present Meeting. The problem earlier than Mr. Chandrasekhar is to interrupt the development when the celebration is making ready for the approaching native physique and Meeting elections.
Revealed – March 30, 2025 01:04 am IST
