Former Kerala BJP chief Kummanam Rajasekhran will contest from Nemom constituency…reports Asian Lite News
The BJP on Sunday announced names of 112 candidates for April 6 Kerala Assembly polls, including “Metroman” E. Sreedharan, from Palakkad while Kerala BJP chief K. Surendran will contest from two seats — Manjeshwar and Konni.
Former Kerala BJP chief Kummanam Rajasekhran will contest from Nemom constituency, former Union Minister and Rajya Sabha member K.J. Alphons from Kanjirappally, another Rajya Sabha member Suresh Gopi from Thrissur and former DGP Jacob Thomas from Irinjalakuda.
Manikuttan, the first tribal engineer in state, will contest from Mananthavady (ST) assembly seat, academician Dr. Abdul Salaam will contest from Tirur and party spokesperson R. Sandeep Vachaspathi from Alappuzha.
Ashanath (Chirayinkeezhu), Raji Prasad (Kunnathu), Minerva Mohan (Kottayam), Dr J. Pramila Devi (Pala), Remya Raveendran (Udumbanchola), Renu Suresh (Kunnathunad), Padmaja S. Menon (Ernakulam), Niveditha (Guruvayoor), Sheebha Unnikrishnan (Kondotty), Navya Haridas (Kozhikode South), Smitha Jayamohan (Peravoor) and Aniyamma Rajendran (Irikkur) are BJP women leaders who will contest the polls.
BJP national General Secretary, Arun Singh said that the BJP is contesting on 115 seats and the rest of 25 seats will be left for four alliance partners.
“Joining of Metroman Sreedharan has given a big boost to the BJP’s campaign. Celebrities, academician, IPS officers are joining BJP and contesting Assembly polls under leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” he said.
Meanwhile, in a surprise move, the name of M.P. Joseph, a former Kerala bureaucrat, has figured in the candidates list of the P.J. Joseph faction of the Kerala Congress (M), in the Congress-led UDF.
M.P. Joseph is the son-in-law of K.M. Mani, the founder of the Kerala Congress (M) but the faction led by Mani’s son Jose K. Mani, recently became an ally of the ruling CPI-M led Left.
M.P. Joseph is a former IAS official who took voluntary retirement a few years back and has been fielded from Trikaripur in Kannur district, which is billed as a stronghold of the Left.
Jose K. Mani is contesting his first Assembly election from Pala, the seat that his father held from 1967 to 2019, when he passed away, but in the bypoll, the candidate of Jose K. Mani lost to the Left candidate Mani C. Kappen of the NCP.
This time Kappen, after being denied his winning seat, has formed his own party and is an ally of the Congress-led UDF. He is pitted against Jose K. Mani, in the April 6 Assembly polls.
The P.J. Joseph faction has been given 10 seats by the Congress-led UDF, while Jose K. Mani was given 13 seats by the Left.
P.J. Joseph is contesting from his home turf Thodupuzha, which he won in the 2016 elections with the highest margin in the state of 45,587 votes.