Thiruvananthapuram: Rajya Sabha MP Suresh Gopi was declared the BJP candidate in Thrissur after he got a call to the national capital. BJP president Amit Shah asked the film star-politician to reach New Delhi by Tuesday evening while he was in Guruvayur.
The Thrissur seat was left vacant after BDJS president Thushar Vellappally went to Wayanad to take on Congress president Rahul Gandhi after his party announced his candidacy on Sunday.
BJP state leadership wanted to give a good fight in Thrissur, for its impressive performance in the 2016 state elections, though it drew a blank here.
With the nominations ends on Thursday, the state leaders expected a decision soon.
“Though the leadership considered many names like spokesperson B. Gopalakrishnan, Tom Vadakkan who recently joined the party from Congress and A. Nagesh, the district president, the party evaluated that if the star comes, the fight will go tight,” a state leader told DC.
State president P. S. Sreedharan Pillai and general secretary M. T. Ramesh were also under consideration.
But the latter spearheading the campaigning of Kummanam Rajasekharan in Thiruvananthapuram opted out.
Initially, the party considered the 59-year-old star for Kollam and Thiruvananthapuram.
The central leadership believes his star value, activities as an MP and intervention in the Sabarimala issue would help him win votes.
The Congress candidate in Thrissur is DCC president T. N. Prathapan while the CPI has fielded Rajaji Mathew Thomas, editor of the party mouthpiece Janayugam.
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