Anil Antony Very Popular In Kerala, Will Win Attingal And Thiruvananthapuram As Well: Kerala BJP Chief K Surendran
Kerala BJP chief K Surendran told news agency ANI that his party will win Pathanamthitta constituency where national secretary and spokesperson Anil K Antony has been fielded. The BJP state president, who lost the Pathanamthitta constituency during last general elections to Congress’ Anto Antony has also added that Anil, son of veteran Congress leader and former defence minister AK Antony, is very popular in Kerala.
K Surendran”s comments coming right after PC George, one of the newly inducted BJP leader and former MLA, commented on Sunday that no one in Pathanamthitta knows who Anil Antony is. Mr George, who is known for his controversial statemenst, reportedly miffed by missing out on the BJP candidates” list, added that it will take extra efforts to familiarise Anil Antony with the voters.
K Surendran also expressed his confidence in winning Attingal and Thiruvananthapuram where two union ministers have been fielded. Union Minister of State Rajeev Chandrasekhar has been announced as the BJP candidate to contest from Thiruvananthapuram. The Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology is expected to face sitting MP and senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor in Kerala’s capital.
Union Minister of State for External Affairs, V Muraleedharan, will be contesting from the constituency of Attingal.
“This time we will win both seats- Attingal and Thiruvananthapuram. Union Minister V Muraleedharan is contesting from Attingal and Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar from Thiruvananthapuram constituency….. Anil Antony is very popular in Kerala. Definitely, he will win the Pathanamthitta seat..,” K Surendran told ANI.
On his candidature, Anil had thanked the party leadership- PM Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP national president JP Nadda and all others. “…for giving me this historic responsibility in Kerala. This is going to be a historic election for the BJP. Where we are all very sure that the NDA will get more than 400 seats…,” he told ANI.
On Saturday, the party revealed its candidates for 12 out of the state’s 20 Lok Sabha constituencies.
Actor-turned-politician Suresh Gopi has been fielded from the Thrissur constituency. A former Rajya Sabha MP, Gopi, had contested the general elections from Thrissur in 2019 but finished third.
The list also includes names like MT Ramesh, who will contest in Kozhikode, and Sobha Surendran will vie for victory in Alappuzha.
The lone Muslim candidate on the list is Abdul Salam, the former Vice Chancellor of Calicut University between 2011 and 2015. Contesting from the constituency of Malappuram, Salam joined the party in 2019 and contested in the last assembly elections as an NDA candidate from Tirur. Notably, he is also the national vice president of the minority morcha of the saffron party.
However, notable absentees from the list include K Surendran. Reports suggest that Surendran has opted out of contesting in the upcoming polls.
