New Delhi: The 15th Kerala Legislative Assembly will be formed in a couple of months. Even as the public in Kerala are guessing about the political party that would go on to form the government, the state BJP chief is confident that a BJP regime too can't be ruled out.
"The National Democratic Alliance will form the government in Kerala if it gets 35 seats," reiterated BJP state president K Surendran.
A party or alliance requires 71 seats to secure the majority in the 140-member Kerala Legisaltive Assembly. Surendran asserted that the political combine, NDA, led by his party can cobble up a majority even if it has only half of the seats required to cross the half-way mark in the legislature. Obviously, he had in mind the prospect of garnering support from a few parties or legislators.
As reported the earlier the NDA finds its electoral prospects in over 30 seats as bright as it has secured over 25,000 to 30,000 votes there in early polls, including the December 2020 civic polls.
Candidate list soon
The BJP is likely to announce its candidates either by Saturday evening or Sunday.
The party's central election committee will discuss the list of candidates for the Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Kerala assembly polls on Saturday.
The elections to these assemblies in south India are on April 16.
Surendran and BJP’s former state presidents Kummanam Rajasekharan and P K Krishnadas held discussions on probable candidates with Pralhad Joshi, the Union minister holding organisational charge of Kerala, national president J P Nadda and general secretary B L Santhosh.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, senior leaders and ministers Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, and Nadda will meet on Saturday to discuss the list of candidates. Party representatives from Kerala will also attend the meeting.
The national leadership will decide on fielding Union minister V Muraleedharan, though his name is not on the list of probable candidates. Shobha Surendran is being considered in a few constituencies including Chathannoor in Kollam.
Surendran is likely to contest from Konni, but he was considered for Kazhakkoottam also.
B Gopalakrishnan and N Hari are being considered for Haripad and Puthuppally, respectively. C K Padmanabhan will be the likely candidate in Dharmadom, where Chief Minister Pinaryi Vijayan is seeking the mandate. K Ranjith was also considered for the seat.
Former DGP Jacob Thomas is the likely candidate in Irinjalakkuda. The party has suggested M T Ramesh to contest in Kozhikode North, and P K Krishnadas in Kattakkada.
Party sources said Rajya Sabha MP and actor Suresh Gopi may contest from Thiruvananthapuram Central, though he is also being considered as the candidate in Thrissur and Nemom.
Vijayan Thomas, who quit Congress and joined the BJP the other day, has expressed his unwillingness to contest from Thiruvananthapuram Central.
