Twenty20 votes: Sabu M Jacob waiting to read Kejriwal mind

KOCHI: With Sabu M Jacob, Kitex group managing director and chief coordinator of Twenty20, welcoming the stand of UDF accepting the support of the apolitical organisation, the 10% vote share it had in Thrikkakara in the last assembly elections has once again become a hot topic of political debate. Opposition Leader V D Satheesan had said that UDF would accept support from any corner and it was up to Twenty20 to take a call on supporting its candidate.

Subsequently, Congress state president K Sudhakaran also hailed Twenty20 as an organisation which has a political base and the party was ready to cooperate with them. “We will try to get the votes of AAP-Twenty20 combine as every vote is crucial. We expect a favourable decision from Twenty20,” he told media persons on Wednesday. 

Welcoming the statements of Congress leaders on associating with Twenty20, Sabu said a decision on who the party should support will be taken after consultation with AAP national convenor and New Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal who will arrive in Kochi on Saturday. “We are not supporting either UDF or LDF but have no grudge against both fronts. We will take a political decision on our stand towards them,” he told TNIE.  According to him, both fronts tried to eliminate his company, political outfit and him personally. Kejriwal will address a meeting at Kizhakkambalam. 

Twenty20, which had announced that it would contest in the bypoll in alliance with AAP, later decided to back out. In the 2021 assembly elections, Twenty20’s candidate Terry Thomas polled 13,897 votes, 10.18% of the total votes polled in Thrikkakara. The BJP which finished a distant third could garner only 11.34% of votes.

BJP state vice-president and Thrikkakara candidate A N Radhakrishnan aired a view that AAP-Twenty20 votes will come in favour of the saffron party. “AAP is a political alternative to Congress and CPM. In this context, they would vote for BJP. The Twenty20 supporters could also not vote for Congress and CPM. No action has been taken so far in the alleged murder of a Twenty20 worker in Kizhakkambalam for four months. Besides, both parties are attempting to close down Kitex company,” he added. LDF convener E P Jayarajan said that voters who supported Twenty 20 would back Jo Joseph, the Left candidate, this time.

V MURALEEDHARAN TO OPEN BJP ELECTION MEET 
Kochi: Union Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan will inaugurate the election convention of NDA candidate for Thrikkakara byelection,  A N Radhakrishnan, at 4 pm on Friday. The convention will be held at Padivattom Anchumana ground near Oberon Mall. BJP Kerala Prabhari C P Radhakrishnan, state president K Surendran, senior leaders O Rajagopal, Kummanam Rajasekharan, C K Padmanabhan and P K Krishnadas will attend the convention.