K Surendran opts out of Konni, Manjeswaram
Surendran had filed a petition aga-inst Razak’s election, whi-ch is pending in the court.
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: BJP state general secretary K. Surendran, who lost the hard-fought Lok Sabha poll from Patha-namathitta, may not contest from Manjeswaram or Konni. His unwillingness has been questioned by former state president P. K. Krishnadas, who said at a recent core committee meeting that Suren-dran had performed well in Manjeswaram and in the Assembly segment in Konni. Surendran had lost the 2016 elections in Manjes-waram by a margin of 89 votes to P. B. Abdul Razak of IUML. The by-election was nece-ssitated by his death in October last. Surendran had filed a petition aga-inst Razak’s election, whi-ch is pending in the court.
Surendran lost to UDF’s Anto Antony in the Pathanamthitta Lok Sabha election, but topped in the Konni Assembly segment. A BJP leader told DC that Surendran had declined to contest from both Manjeswaram and Konni. “Surendran had contested from Pathana-mthitta with the backing of V. Muraleedharan, Union Minister of State for External Affairs,” he said.