THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The signal is now unmistakable. Former DGP and BJP councillor in the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation, R Sreelekha, is set to carry the saffron banner in the Vattiyoorkavu constituency in the upcoming assembly election. The development came a day after TNIE reported that the BJP’s top leadership had persuaded the state’s first woman IPS officer, who was initially reluctant to contest, to enter the fray from a seat the party views as one of its most promising battlegrounds.
The first visible signal of her campaign will come on Saturday. In a release issued on Friday, the state BJP said Sreelekha will launch a wall-writing programme in Vattiyoorkavu, a traditional curtain-raiser to Kerala’s election season.The symbolism is not lost on political observers. A similar exercise was carried out on February 22 by BJP state president Rajeev Chandrasekhar in the neighbouring Nemom assembly constituency. It was widely interpreted as an early signal of his candidature from the seat.
The BJP is expected to release its first list of candidates for around 35 constituencies once the Election Commission announces the poll schedule. However, party leadership has informally asked several frontrunner candidates to begin groundwork in their respective constituencies. “Wall writing is part of establishing visibility and signalling candidature even before the formal announcement,” a senior BJP leader said.
If the current indications hold, Sreelekha could find herself in a high-stakes triangular battle against Congress heavyweight K Muraleedharan and sitting MLA V K Prasanth. In a constituency where political currents are clearly in flux, the contest is shaping up to be one of the most closely watched battles in the capital city.