Thiruvananthapuram: Senior BJP leader A.N. Radhakrishnan will contest as the party’s candidate in the Thrikkakara by-election to be held on May 31.
The BJP central office announced the party candidate for the by-election amid uncertainty as the Congress and CPM had already named their candidates a couple of days before.
The saffron party received 15,400 votes in the 2021 Assembly election at Thrikkakara and the party is not considering the seat as either an ‘A’ or ‘A-plus’ category. But it has still fielded one of its most senior leaders marking the seriousness of the by-election.
Radhakrishnan, a former RSS pracharak, has been at the forefront of all the BJP agitations and programmes.
He is a highly respected leader, given his RSS background, and has a direct connection with BJP cadres at the grass-root level.
He contested the 2021 Assembly elections from Manalur in Thrissur district but lost.
The Thrikkakara by-election was necessitated following the death of sitting legislator and senior Congress leader, P.T. Thomas on December 22, 2021.
The Congress has fielded Uma Thomas, the widow of the late legislator, as its candidate and she has completed one round of campaigning meeting all prominent people in the constituency who wields considerable influence.
The CPM-led left front sprang a surprise by announcing the candidature of Dr. Joe Joseph, a leading cardiologist of Ernakulam and working with a private hospital managed by the Catholic church.
The candidate conducted a press conference at the Lisie hospital premises flanked by senior leader CPM leader and state minister P. Rajeeve and party district secretary C.N. Mohanan along with the priests and fellow doctors.
This led to a major controversy with the Congress stating that the CPM was dragging the Catholic church into elections.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in association with the Twenty20, will also be fielding a candidate from Thrikkakara, which has a huge population of techies as the Kakkanad info park of Kerala is situated in this constituency.
The Congress party is however expecting an easy victory for Uma Thomas, given the sympathy factor. Another factor that Congress expects to garner is the resentment of the people against the K-Rail project that is passing through part of Thrikkakara.
–IANS