Coup in Thiruvananthapuram, testing waters in Ponnani, omitting P K Krishnadas: What we know

NEW DELHI: Thrissur Desamangalam native Rajeev Chandrasekhar, the incumbent Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship and Electronics and Information Technology of India, will raise the heat in the Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha seat which has been favouring Congress for a decade.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is expecting nothing less than a comfortable third reign in power has picked up Varanasi, the traditional BJP bastion. However, ambiguity still circles over the second constituency of PM, which is rumoured to be in Tamil Nadu where the party is fledgling.

On Saturday, BJP announced 195 candidates in the first list including 12 seats in Kerala. National Secretary Anil Antony was selected as per the interest of the state unit in Pathanamthitta, much to the chagrin of P C George who recently joined the saffron party and was a favourite for the seat.

BJP is delaying their candidate announcement in Wayanad, and will probably field a strong name if Congress leader Rahul Gandhi decides to contest. It is also surprising that BJP veteran P K Krishnadas was omitted from the first list of candidates. However, M T Ramesh found a place on the list as the party opted for him from Kozhikode. Mahila Morcha President Nivedita Subramanian will test new waters from the League citadel of Ponnani, where BJP can at best rope in some crucial votes and make its presence felt.

In the list released by BJP on Saturday, 47 people are below 50 years of age and 28 are women. Youth: 47, SC: 27, SC: 18, OBC: 57.