THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Putting an end to speculations, the BJP has decided to field veteran leader O Rajagopal from Nemom in the upcoming Assembly elections. The decision was taken at the meeting of the BJP leadership and RSS state leadership in Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday. The meeting, attended by BJP state president Kummanam Rajasekharan, Election Committee convener V Muralidharan, state organising secretary A R Umakanthan, joint organising secretary Subhash and state RSS functionaries, endorsed the proposal to field Rajagopal. Rajagopal had reportedly expressed reluctance to contest.
“State BJP president Kummanam Rajasekharan is likely to be fielded in Thiruvananthapuram central or Vattiyoorkkavu. There is pressure on him from party workers in Pathanamthitta to contest from Aranmula. P K Krishnandas will contest from Kattakkada and V Muralidharan from Kazhakoottam.
Other names being considered for candidature in Thiruvananthapuram are V V Rajesh, C Sivankutty, A Ashokkumar, Karamana Jayan, and J Padmakumar.
P S Sreedharan Pillai will contest from Chengannur and Sobha Surendran from Palakkad. M T Ramesh will be fielded in Aranmula or Kozhikode north. C K Padmanabhan will contest from Kunnamangalam and K Surendran is likely to be fielded in Mancheswaram.
By March 5, the primary list will be finalised and forwarded to the central leadership for approval.
As the BDJS has officially joined the NDA, seat-sharing discussions will be held with them in the coming days. The Kerala Congress faction led by P C Thomas and Lok Jansaksthi Party of Jose Chemperi are other NDA allies.