Union Home Minister Amit Shah on 12 July inaugurated the Bharatiya Janata Party’s new Kerala state headquarters in Thiruvananthapuram, marking the start of a two-day visit aimed at energising the party’s organisation in the southern state. Addressing party workers after the opening, Shah said transforming the office into a "centre of Vikasit Kerala" was more critical than holding the chief minister’s post, and asserted that "Vikasit Bharat"—a developed India—required strong, developed southern states. Shah announced that the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance will jointly contest the 2026 Kerala assembly election with the objective of forming the next state government. He urged voters to back the NDA, arguing that the incumbent Left Democratic Front and the opposition United Democratic Front had failed to deliver development and had, in his words, turned Kerala into a haven for “anti-national forces.”