KOCHI: The race for the Thrikkakara Assembly seat heated up with the Bharathiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday fielding one of its senior leaders, state vice-president A N Radhakrishnan, as the candidate in the upcoming bye-election.
Radhakrishnan's candidature was announced by the party's Central Election Committee in Delhi on Sunday.
He would be going up against UDF candidate Uma Thomas, widow of late Congress leader P T Thomas who was the MLA from Thrikkakara and whose death necessitated the by-election, and LDF candidate Dr Jo Joseph, a prominent cardiologist in the state.
The Aam Aadmi Party-Twenty20 alliance is yet to announce their candidate for the vacant Assembly seat where the by-election is scheduled to be held on May 31 and the last date for submission of nominations is May 11.
Radhakrishnan will be facing the UDF strategy of focusing on sentiment politics, the popularity of P T Thomas in the constituency and the anti-SilverLine protests and the LDF's pro-development campaign by showcasing the K-Rail project as a necessity for the state.
The SilverLine project is expected to be one of the topics in the BJP leader's poll campaign as the party leadership in Kerala has been opposed to it.
Uma Thomas and UDF already have a head-start in the campaign process as her candidature was announced on Tuesday, much before any of the other parties.
Two days later on Thursday, LDF announced its candidate -- the eminent cardiologist Joseph.
As the UDF tries to retain its numbers in the Assembly and the LDF attempts to increase theirs to 100, the BJP -- which does not have a single seat -- would be hoping to be represented in the state Assembly.