BJP set to open account in Kerala, celebration begins at Suresh Gopi’s house

With BJP candidate Suresh Gopi nearly registering his victory in Thrissur with a 72,000 margin, the 'lotus' has finally bloomed in Kerala and it remains to be seen if BJP will get a second seat in Thiruvananthapuram.

While Gopi came out at his home here with his wife Radhika and posed for a picture with Radhika giving him a sweet, he did not speak to the media and returned after the clicks.

Kerala has 20 LS seats and in the 2019 polls, the Congress-led UDF won 19, CPI-M-led Left won one seat and BJP managed to finish just second in Thiruvananthapuram.

Now all eyes are on the Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha seat where Minister of State Rajeev Chandrasekhar of BJP is giving a tough time to Shashi Tharoor, who is aiming for his fourth straight win.

Chandrasekhar increased his lead to around 23,000 votes but when the final rounds of counting from the coastal areas began, his lead fell to less than 6,000, raising hopes for the Congress supporters, but here too, they are keeping their fingers crossed as if the third-placed CPI candidate gets a share, then Tharoor could find himself in a tight spot.

At Attingal there is a close battle between sitting Congress MP Adoor Prakash and CPI-M legislator V. Joy and fortunes are fluctuating to either side and as matters stand, this could also go to the wire.

The CPI-M-led Pinarayi Vijayan’s candidates are facing a wrath and the only place where they lead is at Alathur, where State Minister for SC/ST K. Radhakrishnan is leading by around 18,000 votes.

In the remaining 16 seats, the Congress-led UDF candidates are on firm wicket while there appears to be a very strong anti-incumbency wave against Vijayan.

A popular actor, Gopi won hearts through his TV programme the Malayalam version of the KBC and then his stock got a boost when Prime Minister Narendra Modi invited him for his swearing in ceremony in 2009.

What has been the biggest surprise at Trissur is that Congress MP, K Muraleedharan is trailing in third place, as CPI candidate and former state minister VS Sunilkumar is in second place.

Muraleedharan was the Congress MP from Vadakara at the 2019 polls and he was shifted from there to Trissur.

He is the son of four-time Congress Chief Minister K Karunakaran.

Muraleedharan’s sister a senior Congress leader Padmaja Venugopal ahead of the polls joined the BJP and had been campaigning against her brother.