Kummanam Rajashekharan quits Governor post, in fray for Lok Sabha seat
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The BJP has raised its stakes by bringing in the soft-spoken Kummanam Rajashekharan, till a few hours ago the Mizo Governor, as its candidate in Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha constituency.
The 66-year-old Mr Rajasekharan is pitted against sitting MP and Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, 62, and LDF leader C. Divakaran, 76, who represents Karun-agappally in Assembly.
The BJP had still not announced the candidature, but state president P.S. Sreedharan Pillai welcomed the move, saying Mr Rajasekh-aran could decide on his slot in the party. The clincher was the RSS move at its ongoing prathinidhi sabha in Gwalior, requesting party president Amit Shah to relieve Mr Rajasekharan of his gubernatorial charge. He put in his papers at 4 pm on Thursday and Rashtrapati Bhavan issued the communiqué on Friday afternoon. Mr Rajasekharan is expected to arrive here on Saturday, with minimal baggage as he had left here 10 months ago for Aizawl.
A staunch RSS man and former chief of state unit of BJP, Mr Rajasekharan, is being seen as the saffron party’s best bet in the state where it is yet to open its LS account.
Dr Tharoor, two-term MP from Thiruvanan-thapuram, said it is going to be a clash of ideologies and principles rather a clash of personalities. This was significant, coming from Dr Tharoor, whose charisma cuts across party affiliations. He said the BJP’s “violent struggle” post-SC verdict in the Sabarimala case would be up for a major debate.
Mr Divakaran quipped that he was not overawed by profiles of candidates. “The fight is going to be political; it is good that electors have a keen contest”, he said.
In 2014, senior BJP leader O Rajagopal, MLA, gave a tough fight to Dr Tharoor, reducing his winning margin 15,470 votes from the nearly one lakh votes in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls. The BJP is pinning high hopes on the NSS support, post-Sabarimala. This would be mainly to the disadvantage of Mr Divakaran than Dr Tharoor, whose stock is intact as an orator, writer and MP. Eomjm
