Kizhakkambalam (Kochi): For Keralites elsewhere, Twenty20 might be a political party devoid of any ideology and politics, but for the residents of Kizhakkambalam—where the party originated—it laid their roads, brought streetlights, and even reconstructed houses. This is what Twenty20 hopes to bank on in the run-up to the polls, with its new ally, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Twenty20, which emerged as a political party from a 2013 CSR initiative of the same name led by Kerala-based businessman Sabu M. Jacob’s Kitex Group that mainly deals in garments, currently holds two panchayats in Ernakulam district. In January this year—a month after the local body polls—the party joined the BJP-led NDA.
For the 9 April Kerala assembly elections, it has fielded 12 candidates, including TV actors, social media influencers and other well-known personalities, such as Varghese George, son-in-law of Oommen Chandy, Kerala’s former chief minister. Meanwhile, the BJP is contesting 97 seats, and its biggest ally, Bharath Dharma Jana Sena (BDJS), is contesting 27 seats. Kerala has a total of 140 seats.
Augustine Antony, the secretary of Twenty20, told ThePrint that the party fielded actors or popular figures as candidates because it is not yet popular outside of Kizhakkambalam and its nearby areas. The party, he said, believed that real change would be brought across constituencies by people who are not just politicians but employed in other professions.
Further elaborating on the party’s choice of candidates, he said, “We understood that they were interested. Some of them had also participated in BJP events before, but didn’t want to be BJP candidates. They thought Twenty20 was the better platform.”
The partnership with the BJP came at a cost. Soon after Twenty20 announced its decision to join the NDA, several upset party leaders quit, with some joining the Congress. The latest to leave is Poothrikka Panchayat President Pooja Jomon. She alleged that Sabu M. Jacob threatened her over her decision.
K.P. Sethunath, a Kerala-based political analyst, said the new partnership would help both the BJP and Twenty20 in their respective expansion in the long run. He said the BJP, which wanted to expand its footprint from the “untouchable” political entity it once was considered, benefited from the BDJS and will also benefit from Twenty20. According to Sethunath, the new ally will incrementally help the BJP gain support from the Christian community, as it also has a connection with the local church.
Sethunath said Twenty20’s base in the state is majorly the upper class and upper-caste communities—which believe that management and technocratic solutions can resolve every issue—and that its political alliances are geared towards achieving what its base wants.
“Sabu is a shrewd businessman. He knows going along with the BJP will help him achieve those kinds of rewards. BJP’s Hindutva is not a problem for the party. For it, development is an end in itself, and Modi can achieve it,” Sethunath said.
Also Read: In LDF’s Kerala manifesto, jobs, poverty eradication & pledge to address human-wildlife conflict
From Kitex to Twenty20
Founded by M.C. Jacob in 1968 in Ernakulam district’s Kizhakkambalam, Anna-Kitex Group, popularly known as Kitex, primarily manufactures garments and aluminium products. Kitex is also one of the largest private-sector employers in Kerala, led by a Malayalee who employs over 10,000 people in Kerala. In that regard, the group is as significant as Muthoot, which employs over 40,000 people, and Malabar, which employs 25,000.
According to The Economic Times Markets, Kitex has witnessed a steady increase in its revenue in the past few years, with total revenue in FY 2025-26 (THIS?) at Rs 1,001.35 crore, up from Rs 631.17 crore in the previous financial year.
Antony said the party began charitable and welfare activities in 2013, which aligned with Sabu’s late father’s vision to develop Kizhakkambalam. The first event was a medical camp, inaugurated by then-Union minister K.C. Venugopal.
“That event made us realise that Kizhakkambalam needed many more things,” he said, adding that it led the Kitex group to brainstorm more ideas. The team made a plan to transform Kizhakkambalam in the next seven years, and therefore, the CSR initiative was named Twenty20.
In the coming months and years, Twenty20 did more, from building large water tanks to organising more health camps and Onam fairs, which sold goods at a 50 percent discount—all of which the state’s mainstream media extensively covered.
According to Antony, the decision to turn Twenty20 into a political party came after the state’s major political parties—earlier supportive of the group’s welfare initiatives—became hostile towards it.
In 2015, Twenty20 contested in the state local body polls and took control of Kizhakkambalam Panchayat, later expanding into four more nearby panchayats in the Ernakulam district. One of its major initiatives was rebuilding 37 houses for financially weaker families in the village. The project was inaugurated by the actor-politician Kamal Haasan.
Named ‘God’s Villa’, these new houses in the village were nearly identical—walled, with a signboard and a water tank outside, both branded Twenty20.
When ThePrint visited the village, sixty-six-year-old V.V. James, one of the beneficiaries, showed off his now-concrete house, attesting to the party’s welfare initiatives.
“This house was in a very bad shape before, leaking when it rained. Through the panchayat, they arranged Rs two lakh, and we took Rs two lakh more, and then we revamped the house,” he said, adding that the village saw a transformation through the construction of village roads, streetlights, clean ponds, etc., which, he said, the party is continuing.
Other residents in the village also said the party enjoys popularity due to its panchayat representatives’ accessibility and good work in the village.
In the 2021 Kerala assembly elections, Twenty20 contested eight constituencies in Ernakulam district, though unsuccessfully.
But, as the party eyed expansion, Sabu’s relationship with the state’s Left Democratic Front and United Democratic Front became further strained.
In 2021, Sabu alleged, his business Kitex was “forced to move out of the state” after it was “hounded” by relentless factory inspections. He said the state would soon become a “graveyard of industries” and announced plans to shift Rs 3,500 crore worth of investments to Telangana.
Sabu has already expanded his business to Telangana, launching two units in Warangal and Hyderabad last year. But his headquarters remain in Kochi.
Amid the LDF government’s continued push to attract investments, he renewed his allegations last year when Andhra Pradesh Minister for Handlooms and Textiles S. Savitha visited Kitex’s Kochi headquarters.
Kerala Industries Minister P. Rajeev maintained that Sabu’s statements should be seen in light of his politics—Kitex, he pointed out, continued to be headquartered in Kerala.
From solo to AAP to BJP
Twenty20 eyed expansion several times, as it failed to make an electoral impact on its own. The party has maintained that both the UDF and LDF worked together to defeat it wherever it contested.
After the unsuccessful contest in the 2021 Kerala assembly polls, the party allied with AAP and Arvind Kejriwal in 2022. However, the partnership didn’t work.
In 2024, Twenty20 contested two seats in Ernakulam and Chalakudy in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls but failed to make an impact. Though the party eyed a major expansion in the 2025 local body polls, it faced a setback, as it lost control of two of the four local bodies it had controlled.
A month later, Sabu M. Jacob joined the BJP-led NDA, saying it was a ‘collective strategic’ choice to expand the party’s developmental model beyond Kizhakkambalam.
“We had a concern about how much we can do as a single force. But in the last local body polls, an alliance of LDF (Left Democratic Front), UDF (United Democratic Front), and other parties was formed to defeat us. That shows how they are scared of us,” Sabu said, adding that both Twenty20 and BJP believed in a similar vision of the state’s development.
Both the BJP and Twenty20 have been campaigning in the state on the promise of development or a ‘Viksit Keralam’. The Twenty20 candidates are doing the same.
At the event announcing candidates, Anjali Nair, the party’s Thrippunithura candidate, said she doesn’t have any political views. “I don’t have any political views. I just want good to happen for everyone,” she added.
However, the party has been facing internal rebellion. Oothrikka Panchayat President Pooja Jomon quit Twenty20 Friday, ending the party’s control over the local body. Jomon said ideological differences between her and the party entering the NDA fold shaped her decision.
“I became the president through the independent political movement called Twenty20. However, beyond my ideals and thoughts, it joined the NDA. I have no interest in staying with the party anymore. That is why I am resigning,” she said.
Chandramohan, a senior BJP leader from Ernakulam, who has been looking after his party’s campaign in the Kunnathunadu constituency, which includes Kizhakkambalam, said that Twenty20 talked about change, development, and people’s problems—not politics—which the public was very receptive to. He said both Twenty20 and the BJP are focused on development this year, and the partnership helped both parties expand their footprint.
“Twenty20 has been here for the past 10 years. To be honest, we used to criticise its work. And, soon after it joined the NDA, its workers were also ‘not happy’ with the decision. We used to call it an ‘apolitical’ party. In Kunnathunadu, we have 7,000 votes. But Twenty20 has two panchayats,” he said.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)