BJP to contest in 12 LS seats in Kerala: Suresh Gopi in Thrissur, Rajeev Chandrasekhar in TVM
Thiruvananthapuram: Putting an end to the long wait, the BJP on Saturday announced its first list of candidates for 12 seats in Kerala along with other Lok Sabha constituencies across the country.
As expected, the saffron party fielded star candidate Suresh Gopi in Thrissur, Union Ministers Rajeev Chandrasekhar and V Muraleedharan in Thiruvananthapuram and Attingal respectively. Anil Antony will face the general elections from Pathanamthitta. Shobha Surendran will enter the poll fray from Alappuzha. She is one among the three women candidates in the list.
The list of 12 candidates in Kerala seats
- Kasaragod - M L Ashwini
- Kannur - C Raghunath
- Vadakara -Praful Krishna
- Kozhikode - M T Ramesh
- Malappuram - Dr Abdul Salam
- Ponnani- Nivedita Subramanyan
- Palakkad C Krishnakumar
- Thrissur- Suresh Gopi
- Alappuzha - Shobha Surendran
- Pathanamthitta - Anil Antony
- Attingal -V Muraleedharan
- Thiruvananthapuram -Rajeev Chandrasekhar
Suresh Gopi was sworn in as a Rajya Sabha MP after being nominated by the President of India in the category of eminent citizens under Article 80 of the Indian Constitution in 2016.
The actor later contested in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls as a BJP candidate from the Thrissur constituency, but could only manage to come third behind the Congress and CPI candidates.
The BJP is hoping to capitalise on his star status by fielding him from Thrissur again.
Muraleedharan, the Union Minister of State for External Affairs and Parliamentary Affairs, was elected as a Rajya Sabha MP from Maharashtra in 2018.
Prior to that, from 2006 to 2010, he was the state vice president of the BJP. After that, he served as the state president twice, from 2010 to 2013 and 2013 to 2015.
In 2019, he was appointed as the Government Deputy Chief Whip in the Rajya Sabha.
Chandrasekhar is the Union Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship and Electronics and Information Technology.
He was an independent Rajya Sabha MP representing Karnataka from 2006 to 2018 and was re-elected to the upper House again for a third six-year term in 2018 from the same state as a BJP member.
Chandrasekhar, who is also an entrepreneur and technocrat, has also served as the national spokesperson of the BJP and vice-chairman of the Kerala unit of the NDA.
Anil, who was the former head of the Kerala Congress digital media cell, had joined the BJP after criticising the grand old party over its stand on the controversial BBC documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi. (With inputs from PTI)