The Bharatiya Janata Party national leadership has named actor Suresh Gopi as National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate for the Thrissur Lok Sabha seat on Tuesday.
Mr. Gopi substitutes Bharath Dharma Jana Sena president Thushar Vellapally who was shifted to Wayanad following the decision of Congress president Rahul Gandhi to contest from the seat. Thrissur was among the five seats granted to the BDJS by the BJP national leadership, but with the entry of Mr. Gandhi, BJP president Amit Shah asked Thushar to shift to Wayanad.
Mr. Gopi, a member of the Rajya Sabha, is being fielded for his debut in the electoral politics from the State.
High hopes
The BJP and the Sangh Parivar have rated Thrissur as one of the seats where the party has high chances of winning and many party leaders had staked claim to the seat.
Rumours were rife that the BJP would nominate one of its general secretaries, most probably M.T. Ramesh for the Thrissur seat. But the national leadership seems to have settled for Mr. Gopi to avoid group bickerings that have settled since the party entered the election mode in the State.
Mr. Gopi would have to strive hard to match up to UDF candidate T.N. Prathapan and LDF candidate Rajaji Mathew Thomas who had completed two rounds of campaigning.
