Kochi: Thushar Vellappally, the leader of Bharath Dharma Jana Sena (BDJS), a constituent of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), has said the 'Hindutva' agenda won't help govern the country.

Addressing his party workers at the Town Hall in Ernakulam on Thursday, Vellappally said it was imperative that his party cozied up to minorities.

"I have said this many times, if the NDA is not systematically brought to Kerala, it won't go further," said Vellappally.

The son of SNDP Yogam General Secretary, Vellappally Nadesan, then proclaimed his party's position: "You cannot govern the country with 'Hindutva'. To govern Kerala, you need the support of minority communities."

He implied that this strategy has been communicated to the BJP leadership. "If we bring together the neglected Christians and Muslims into our fold, we will govern the country for sure."

Vellappally's statement is seen as a clarion call with the 2024 Lok Sabha polls in sight. His party and the NDA have yet to taste success in the General Elections in Kerala.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Vellappally contested against Rahul Gandhi from Wayanad and suffered a heavy defeat. He managed less than 60,000 votes while the Congress leader had a majority of 4,31,770 votes over CPI's PP Suneer.

Vellappally's appeal to open the doors to minorities is seen as an articulation of BJP's election success in the Northeast, where they succeeded to win the favour of a sizeable minority community.

In Nagaland which has a 90% Christian population, the BJP-NDPP alliance secured the majority in the recent assembly polls.