BJP's Kerala candidates confident about springing surprises

Thiruvananthapuram: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national leadership on Thursday released the list for 13 out of the 14 seats the party has decided to contest in Kerala, but chose to defer its announcement for the Pathanamthitta constituency where the party hopes to make remarkable gains.

The intense political drama over the contentious seat has created confusion among the state leadership and party rank and file alike.

BJP state president P S Sreedharan Pillai evaded questions regarding the national leadership’s decision to leave Pathanamthitta out of the list released by Union Minister J P Nadda. According to him, the discussion on the list submitted by the state unit was over and it was up to the national leadership to take a final call.

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“It is a welcome list. We could ensure proper representation to all sections. The NDA will be able overcome the stiff challenge posed by the two fronts. I’m certain that Keralites will welcome the BJP candidates with open arms,” he said.

“Three of our candidates are from minority communities. The BJP will be able to put up a strong fight and wrest a fair number of seats from the two fronts. There is no dispute over the candidate for Pathanamthitta. The deliberations on the matter are over. It is unlikely that any last-minute changes would be made,” he added.

M T Ramesh, one of the general secretaries, said there was only one nominee for the Pathanamthitta seat in the list proposed by the party’s state unit. “I don’t know why the announcement has been put on hold. It is a constituency where the BJP has a good chance of winning. That could be the reason why the central leadership is proceeding with prudence and caution. Many state-level leaders including me decided to not contest taking heed of party’s instructions,” Ramesh said.

Former Mizoram governor Kummanam Rajasekharn, who will take on Congress’ Shashi Tharoor and CPI’s C Divakaran in Thiruvananthapuram, sounded confident of winning. “A fierce battle is on the cards in the capital. Palpably, both the rival fronts are nervous. The LDF and the UDF might engage in cross-voting to prevent me from winning,” he said.

The party’s candidate in Alappuzha, former Kerala Public Service Commission chairman leader K S Radhakrishnan, who crossed over from the Congress to the BJP recently, too hopes to spring a surprise. According to him, the Modi wave will work in this election also.

C K Padmanabhan, who has been pitted against LDF’s sitting MP P K Sreemathy and UDF’s K Sudhakaran in Kannur, said the constituency would witness an intense poll battle. “The LDF and the UDF are two sides of the same coin. The impression that the contest is between these two fronts would end with this election," he pointed out.

Union Minister of State for Tourism Alphons Kannanthanam, who has been named for Ernakulam, said he was happy with the responsibility the party has entrusted him with. “Ernakulam is like a second home for me. I was not keen on contesting and I had informed the central leadership about my decision. When the party top brass asked me to contest, I just made a suggestion that Pathanamthitta would be a good choice,” he said.