THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The BJP, which is eyeing to put up a good fight in Kerala, will officially announce its list of candidates on Sunday. The party will be fielding strong candidates in those constituencies where it has a chance of victory.

BJP state president will be the candidate in Manjeshwaram, where he lost by just 87 votes in the last assembly elections. Meanwhile, veteran leader Kummanam Rajasekharan will contest from Nemom, BJP's lone sitting seat in the state. Metroman E Sreedharan, a BJP candidate, is likely to contest from Palakkad. He has also started campaigning works there.

The BJP has also decided to field Rajya Sabha member and actor Suresh Gopi. Suresh Gopi had done well in the Lok Sabha elections in Thrissur. Union Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan, who was expected to contest in Kazhakoottam, will not be contesting. Instead of Muraleedharan, Sobha Surendran is expected to contest from Kazhakoottam. Kerala Congress leader and former Union Minister PC Thomas will contest in Pala. In Kovalam, KKNC leader Vishnupuram Chandrasekharan will be given a seat but he will contest under the lotus symbol. Former Palakkad Municipality vice-chairman C Krishnakumar, who came second to VS Achuthanandan in Malampuzha in the previous assembly election, will be the candidate in Malampuzha. It is learnt that BJP has given adequate representation for women and minorities in its list. The constituent parties were also given due consideration. Former Union Minister Alphonse Kannanthanam will be the candidate in Kanjirappally. As hinted earlier, PK Krishnadas will be the candidate in Kattakada, Shivankutty in Aruvikkara, Karamana Jayan in Parassala and MT Ramesh in Kozhikode North.

National leadership makes major changes in the list

Following the discussion between BJP Central Parliamentary Board and Central Election Committee, some major changes were made in the priority list that was prepared by the BJP State Election Committee. Several names were changed as the party's national leadership felt that strong candidates should be fielded in those seats where the party has a major chance of winning. The list was compiled by Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prahlad Joshi, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister Ashwath Narayanan and CP Radhakrishnan who camped in the state. The Kerala leaders went to Delhi with this list. The changes were made to the list after the leaders held discussions with BJP national president JP Nadda and Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP national general secretary BL Santhosh.