KOCHI: As the NDA kick-starts its election campaign after releasing the first list of candidates, voices of dissent have started emerging both within the BJP and NDA allies. The denial of a seat to senior BJP leader and state general secretary M T Ramesh has upset his supporters.
Similarly, Minority Morcha national vice-president Noble Mathew has issued a statement against the candidature of Union minister George Kurian in Kanjirappally. BJP state president Rajeev Chandrasekhar has suspended Noble.
Though Ramesh had expressed willingness to contest from Thrissur, the BJP national leadership has picked former CM K Karunakaran’s daughter Padmaja Venugopal for the seat.
Ramesh, who had a record of consistently raising the party’s vote share, had contested from Kozhikode North in 2021, polling 30,952 votes. In 2016, he contested from the Aranmula assembly seat and polled 37,906 votes, a 16% rise compared to the party’s 2011 tally of 10,227 votes. Though he was offered Aranmula, Ramesh has refused to accept the seat. Sources close to Ramesh said he has decided to stay away from the contest this time.
Alleging that the selection of candidates has been made according to the will of K Surendran and P K Krishnadas, Noble said Kurian should have contested from Kaduthuruthy. “I was the preferred candidate for Kanjirappilly. BJP is gifting seats to outsiders who join the party in search of benefits while people who toiled hard for the party at the grassroots-level are being ignored,” he told the TNIE.
BJP leadership’s decision to hand over Kodungallur and Tripunithura, two party strongholds, to Twenty20 has shocked the BJP workers. BDJS, which was demanding Kodungallur, has expressed its displeasure and feels that BJP has overrated the popularity of Twenty20.
Twenty20 has picked Varghese George as its candidate for Kodungallur. According to the BDJS, Kodungallur is a Hindu majority seat and Ezhavas hold the sway there. Umesh Chulliyil, an SNDP Yogam union member, had won the seat in 2001 as JSS candidate. BJP had earlier decided to field B Gopalakrishnan in Kodungallur, and he had completed preliminary round of campaign. However, as the BJP leadership decided to gift the seat to Twenty20, he decided to withdraw.
No to Aranmula
M T Ramesh has got a record of consistently raising the party’s vote share
Though the BJP leadership offered Aranmula, Ramesh has refused to accept the seat