The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday finalised its seat-sharing deal with the Bharath Dharma Jana Sena (BDJS) and Kerala Congress in Kerala for the Lok Sabha election.
The BJP would field candidates in 14 seats in Kerala, while the BDJS will contest five seats and the P.C. Thomas-led Kerala Congress will fight in one, said party general secretary Muralidhar Rao.
Announcing the seat-sharing pact, Mr. Rao said the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance was getting support from all sections in the State. The three parties had also finalised the seats they wanted to contest, he said. Sources said former Mizoram Governor Kummanam Rajasekharan is likely to be the BJP’s candidate from Thiruvananthapuram against Congress party’s Shashi Tharoor.BDJS chief Thushar Vellappally is likely to be the candidate from Thrissur, they said.In the 2016 election, the BJP had made inroads in parts of Kerala, which had alternatively been ruled by the Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Left Democratic Front and the Congress-led United Democratic Front.
Alphons in the fray?
According to an IANS report from Kochi, among those likely to figure in the list of BJP candidates include Union Tourism Minister K.J. Alphons and new entrant and former Congress spokesperson Tom Vadakkan, besides senior State leaders.
Soon after returning here from Delhi, BJP State president P.S.Sreedharan Pillai said on Wednesday that the list would be released on Thursday, but kept silent when asked if he was going to be a candidate in the upcoming polls.
“The list of Kerala candidates would be released in Delhi tomorrow (Thursday) by the national executive,” Mr. Pillai said.
According to sources, the BJP list has been caught in a bind after a few of its top State leaders continued to demand seats that they feel are more comfortable for them.
