New Delhi, Mar 21 (UNI) After hectic deliberations the BJP managed to announce candidate list in Kerala for 13 Lok Sabha constituencies, the party could not reach a decision on the crucial Pathanamthitta seat, where multiple aspirants are in the fray for the ticket.
BJP considers Pathanamthitta, which was the epic centre of Sabarimala agitation, a good chance of winning.
According to party sources, BJP Kerala chief PS Sreedharan Pillai and state general secretary K Surendran are lobbying for the seat as the latter has the RSS backing.
Mr Surendran was in the forefront of the Sabarimala agitation and was in jail for three weeks, hence the party workers and RSS leaders from the state are arguing in his favour.
BJP Central Election Committee secretary JP Nadda on Thursday announced candidate for 13 seats, which are BJP is contesting.
In four seats party’s two allies, Bharat Dharma Jena Sena and Kerala Congress (PC Thomas) will contest in four and one seat respectively.
According to Mr Nadda, former Mizoram Governor and party’s former Kerala chief Kummanam Rajasekharan will contest in Thiruvananthapuram, where Congress’s Shashi Tharoor is his main opponent.
While Union Minister Alphons Kannanthanam will contest in Ernakulam, party’s new entry from Congress Tom Vadakkan did not find place in the candidate list.
The BJP candidates are Attingal- Shobha Surendran, Kollam- Sabu Varghese, Chalakkudi- AN Radhakrishnan, Alappuzha- KS Radhakrishnan, Palakkad- C Krishnakumar, Kozhikkod- Prakash Babu, Malappuram – V Unnikrishnan, Ponnani- VT Rama, Vadakara-VK Sajeevan, Kannur- CK Padhmanabhan and Kasargode-Raveesha Thanthri.
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