THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: BDJS state president and NDA convenor Thushar Vellappally will lead the front candidate N Hari’s campaign in Pala. The Ezhava community leader was tangled in a legal wrangle in UAE for a brief while and had reached the state on Sunday after being exonerated of the charges. The presence of Thushar Vellappally who is also the vice president of the SNDP Yogam and son of Velappally Natesan is expected boost the electoral prospects of the NDA candidate.
“With Ezhava community forming around 20 per cent of Pala constituency population, the active campaign of the BDJS leadership in association with the SNDP yogam units will lead to a major vote flow into the kitty of the NDA candidate,” sources in BJP told Express.
“I just came back on Sunday. I will be campaigning and have received feedback from all the local units of the BDJS. We are very positive. The programmes and policies of the Prime Minister will be highlighted during the campaign,” Thushar told Express. In the last assembly elections of 2016, N Hari who was the NDA candidate had secured 24,821 votes which was a huge increase from the 6,359 votes the NDA candidate had garnered in 2011 polls. Interestingly, in the 2019 general elections, NDA candidate PC Thomas polled 26,533 votes in the Pala assembly constituency. This again is an increase in the vote share of the NDA candidate from the 2016 assembly polls in the constituency.
BJP is expecting a sizeable vote share from the Ezhava community for its candidate in Pala by-polls and Thushar is the trump card the party is banking upon. BJP national leaders, P Muralidhar Rao and the architect of the party’s victory in Tripura, Sunil Deodhar are reaching Pala as part of the electioneering. Deodhar, it is learnt will be camping in the constituency for a couple of days to give directions on the electioneering.