ML Ashwini, BJP's Unexpected Candidate From Kasargod (image@AshiwniML2)

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) sought to make a powerful entry into the upcoming Lok Sabha election from Kerala. The party’s candidates list from Kerala shows a fusion of high-profile leaders and new faces. The BJP in Kasargod decided to depart from usual practice of selecting party veterans or national leadership to contest from potential constituencies. The party has decided to field ML Ashwini, Block Panchayat Member of Manjeshwara instead of BJP national office bearer PK Krishnadas from the Kasargod Lok Sabha seat.

The omission of Krishnadas’ name from the candidates list left even the members clueless on what happened on last minute, as his name resonated until the last moment of announcing the candidate list. Though PK Krishnadas, current district president Ravish Tantri Kundar and ML Ashwini were included in the preliminary candidates list, but nobody expected Ashwini to be chosen as the candidate trouncing the other known leaders of the party.

Ashwini is considered to be BJP’s fiery activist of Mahila Morcha at national level and has the knowledge on how the organization works mainly. It is believed that she can attract core voter base. Th Bharatiya Janata Party leadership believes that Yuva Morcha and Mahila Morcha workers will join hands enthusiastically come forward for Ashwini. The party believes that changing track from the senior leaders might yield good results for the party.