Kasaragod: BJP's young Kasaragod Lok Sabha candidate ML Ashwini set off a firestorm of gossip within the party, aimed at undermining her credibility after she posted a photograph of herself posing with SDPI leaders and  Union Minister of State for Railways V Somanna on Facebook.

After increasing BJP's vote share in the Kasaragod Lok Sabha constituency by 3.6 percentage points to nearly 20%, Ashwini (37) has become a much-watched BJP leader in the Malabar and emerged as a strong contender for BJP's ticket in Manjeshwar assembly segment, where the party has a real chance of winning. The party lost the assembly constituency by 89 votes in 2016 and 745 votes in 2021.

Her detractors, however, expect the SDPI gaffe could be held against her and have launched a hush-hush campaign against her. They wrongly allege that she took a delegation of SDPI leaders from Manjeshwar to meet the Union minister in Mangaluru, hinting at building a political bridge for the next Assembly election. "The photographs (with SDPI leaders) only display her political naivety. But she is not naive. In three years, she became a BJP Lok Sabha candidate," said a senior leader from Kasaragod. He was referring to 2020 when she won the local body election to become Manjeshwar Block panchayat member from Kadambar block.

Another BJP leader accused Ashwini of taking advantage of her fairly good outing at the hustings while disregarding the BJP's stance on the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI). The political outfit is considered the political arm of the Islamist organisation Popular Front of India (PFI) and banned by the BJP government in 2022.

When the SDPI extended its support to the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) in Kerala during the Lok Sabha election, BJP state president K Surendran demanded an explanation from Rahul Gandhi and accused the organisation of trying to disintegrate the nation.

But Ashwini, a National Executive Member at BJP's women's wing Mahila Morcha, is unapologetic about the photograph of SDPI leaders she posted on Facebook and has refused to delete it. "Why should I delete it?" she said. She, however, condemned the fake narrative being spun around the photograph for narrow political gains.

In the photograph, the Union minister Somanna, an MP from Karnataka's Tumakuru constituency, is seen with Ashwini, SDPI district leader N Abdul Hameed, who is also the chairman of Manjeshwar Block Panchayat's Standing Committee for Welfare, and SDPI's trade union district secretary Khader Hosangadi.

Ashwini said the photograph was clicked when they reached the Government Circuit House in Mangaluru to meet the minister, separately. "I did not lead a delegation. I was on my own. Abdul Hameed is an elected representative and my colleague in the Manjeshwar block panchayat board. He was there with his party leaders," she said. "Since all of us were from Kasaragod, a photograph was clicked with the minister. He is not a minister only for the BJP," she said.

Ashwini said she was there to take up the issues of the people of Manjeshwar and Kasaragod with the minister.

Ashwini met the junior railway minister demanding the stoppage of five trains in Manjeshwar station because "more than 2,000 students go to Mangaluru for studies daily". Also, government employees working in Manjeshwar come from Kannur, Payyannur, Trikaripur and Nileshwar, and the stoppage of trains at Manjeshwar will make their lives convenient and delivery of service efficient, she said.

Hameed was livid at the accusation that he met the minister with Ashwini's help. "I don't need Ashwini's recommendation to meet any minister. I'm a people's representative and went to meet him seeking a solution to the annual flooding of 20 houses near railway land," he said.

Rainwater routinely floods the houses of 20 families because the railways refuse to build a 2 km drainage at Kundukolake at Udyawar in Manjeshwar, he said. "And the railways does not allow the grama panchayat or the block panchayat to earmark money to build the drainage either. I apprised the minister of the problem, and he has directed the officials to find a solution," he said.

However, when SDPI released photographs of its leaders meeting the Union minister, they cropped out Ashwini. But she did not and posted the photograph on Facebook.

Ashwini said that there could be leaders who are envious of her rise in the party. "I became a block panchayat member just three years ago. But I have no interest in becoming a candidate in Manjeshwar. I will be happy to complete my term as a block panchayat member and be done with it," she said.

But her rising popularity and public engagement tell another story. She is regularly seen visiting settlements of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities, releasing college magazines, and campaigning for a BJP candidate in the CPM bastion of Kankol Alappadamba grama panchayat in Kannur for the byelection on July 30.

Party insiders say the party's leadership in Delhi took note of her after her work in the Mahila Morcha. "Now her stature has gone up among party workers after her performance in the Lok Sabha election," said an old-timer. The comments under the photographs attest to it.

To be sure, in the 2019 Lok Sabha election, when the present BJP district president Ravisha Thanthri Kuntar was the candidate, the party's vote share dipped by 1.61 percentage points to 16.13%. Ashwini took it up to 19.73%. The BJP did well, especially in CPM strongholds such as Kalliassery, Payyannur and Trikaripur assembly segments.

Ashwini's candidature, however, did not help BJP increase its vote base in its bastions such as Manjeshwar and Kasaragod, where it appears that the party has hit a plateau or internal turbulence. The BJP can expect more such resistance from within the party if she is made a candidate in Manjeshwar.