Will denial of nomination  to  Pratapan  pave  way  for Suresh Gopi’s success?

By  our  political  correspondent

New  Delhi,March  08  (IVC)    Yesterday   the  Congress  party  workers  at Thrissur,  the home turf (Thattakam)  of ,   the  late   veteran  leader  of  Congress  party  K Karunakaran ,  had  double  shocks.

                The  first  one was  ,  Karunakaran’s daughter’s  march  to the BJPs    headquarters  here Yesterday and accepting Bharatiya Janata    Party’s    primary  membership  from   Prakash Javedkar  in  the   presence  of   former  congress  leader  Tom Vadakan and    BJP’s national  Secretary  Aravind Menon.

                The second  shock  was   that  K Muraleedharan , Padmaja’s direct  brother,  nominated as  the   candidate of the Indian National Congress  to  contest  from the  Thrissur  Lok Sabha  Constituency,  instead   of  the sitting member  T  N Pratapan.

                It  is believed  that  the denial   of seat to Pratapan   was a the result  of a well-hatched  conspiracy  under the leadership of the  prominent  senior    Congress  leader  who was  the Union Minister  in the earlier UPA  Government led   by  Dr  Manmohan Singh.

                According  to  media  reports  the  concerned  leader was making his best efforts  secretely  for the  BJP  to win seats from the Lok  Sabha  seats  from Kerala  in the next elections  and enable it  to open  its  accounts  in the  Parliament  from Kerala  which  was  the long  cherished  wish  of  the BJP.  The  particular  leader  was  also  making contacts with Church  to get its support for  BJP  on  the  assumption that  it  would  be  difficult  for the Indian National  Congress  to gain its lost glory and assume  power  at the centre, media  reports said.

                According  to  the  people  of Thrissur, Muraleedharan was   not fit  for electing as MP  from Trissur .  He  was  defeated   in the constituency  by  the  CPI  leader  V V Raghavan  in  1998.

                Raghavan had defeated  Mraleedharan’s father  K Karunakaran  in the Lok  sabha  elections in the Thrissur constituency  in 1996. 

                Whlie   Karunakan lost  for  a wafer thin majority of only  1480  votes, Muraleedharan had a miserable  failure at the hands of CPI  leader  Raghavan  for   18,409  votes. By  defeating  father and son at a stretch, Raghavan earned the sobriquet  of  “giant killer’.

                A  large  number  of electorate of Thrissur  Lok Sabha  Constituency  holds the view  that  Muraleedharan’s  candidature   would  boost the  prospects of the  BJP  candidate  Suresh Gopi  for winning the Thrissur Constituency. Among the  sitting MPs   of  the Indian National  Congress  from  Kerala, only  Pratapan was  denied  the opportunity  for  continuing  again.

                The  Congress workers here  in Thrissur are  of the opinion  that Padmaja’s defection to BJP would not  affect the INC’s  election prospects, for   she  was  not  a leader  of  charisma and influence. She  had lost the  Mukundapuram lok Sabha election  and Thrissur assembly  constituency  in 2021  contesting as a congress candidate.