Sobha Surendren is likely to be the BJP candidate for the Vengara Assembly byelection.
State party leaders are understood to have reached a broad understanding in fielding Ms. Surendran, a national executive member, as part of its strategy for improving its tally in the segment, where P.T. Ali Haji had secured 7,055 votes in the last general elections.
Party sources said Ms. Surendran’s candidature is expected to help mobilise the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) cadres and garner maximum Hindu votes in the segment.
The byelection comes close on the heels of the Kerala Raksha Yatra proposed to be taken up under the tutelage of president Amit Shah from North Kerala in early October. The State leadership was hoping to sustain the tempo of the yatra till the byelection so that the party would be able to improve its performance and also overcome the damage inflicted by the corruption charges and allied issues, sources said.
But the core issues that had been vexing the party such as the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau probe against State leaders in the medical college bribery scam, the disciplinary action initiated against State secretary V.V. Rajesh and BJYM general secretary Praful Krishna and the raging differences of opinion in the National Democratic Alliance State unit continue to remain unaddressed.
A major constituent of the alliance, the Bharath Dharma Jana Sena (BDJS) is sore over the way in which the BJP is managing the alliance and accused the party of leading the front allegedly without consultations and consent. The BDJS had raised this issue during the Malappuram Lok Sabha election and said that the alliance lacked cohesion.
Its relations with the BJP had ruptured and now it was raising the same bogey of disunity in the alliance even more vehemently. The Lok Jansakthi Party too had staked claim for the Vengara seat, but the BJP is understood to have ignored the claim.
Onus for improving the margin would be squarely placed on the BJP alone and it would be a tall challenge in the current context, sources said.
