Who Will Take Thrissur Constituency Amid Intense Triangular Battle
Thrissur is one of the most noticed Lok Sabha constituencies in the 2024 general elections. The second nomination of the BJP’s star face and actor turned politician, Suresh Gopi, has been contesting on the promise of a “union minister for the constituency.” The Congress party has fielded the veteran leader and son of former chief minister K. Muraleedharan to confront the BJP candidate. By fielding V. S. Sunil Kumar, the CPM too has a sharp eye on the constituency as it controls most of its assembly seats.
Though the BJP’s actor-politician came third in his debut in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the party saw a huge turnover in its favour. From 11 percentage in 2014, Suresh Gopi secured a 28 percentage vote share in 2019, bolstering party influence across the constituency, falling behind the CPI”s Rajaji Mathew Thomas by two percentage. Congress’s TN Pratapan won the election with over one lakh votes majority.
The constituency has been witnessing the switching between the two major fronts – CPM-led LDF and Congress-led UDF, and the NDA has never been a player till the last general election. This time, the political circle believes that the BJP too enters the fight, posing challenges to the state’s both major powers. The Prime Minister has made several visits campaigning for the Thrissur candidate and has even attended his daughter’s wedding, signaling a strong campaign.
While the BJP is banking on Hindutva politics, the party has made efforts to woo Christian votes, which constitutes around 21 percentage. Despite all these efforts, political analysts believe that the saffron party has failed to appeal to Christian voters due to several reasons including the recent violence in Manipur.
Going by the Congress candidate, the Congress, against its earlier plan to renominate the sitting MP, decided to field K Muralitharan following Padmaja Venugopal’s switching to the saffron party. As per political analysts, the grand old party’s nomination of a Nair and veteran leader is a strategic move to counter the BJP’s heavyweight. Notably, being a former stronghold of the left party, the CPM is also a tough challenger.
