The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : Rajagopal to contest in Palakkad

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Mar 22, 2006

Kerala

Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Rajagopal to contest in Palakkad

Special Correspondent

Bharatiya Janata Party to release list of candidates tomorrow

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and former Union Minister of State O. Rajagopal will contest the coming Assembly elections from Palakkad constituency.

The party has decided to field Narayana Bhatt from Manjeswaram. An Independent will be fielded from Thiruvananthapuram East.

BJP State president P.S. Sreedharan Pillai said here on Tuesday that the candidates for other constituencies were being finalised. The election committee of the party will meet on March 23.

Mr. Rajagopal started his political career as a Jan Sangh activist. In 1977, he became State general secretary of the Janata Party. He was elected to the Rajya Sabha twice, in 1992 and 1998, from outside Kerala. His attempts to get elected to Parliament from Kerala on the BJP ticket so far have been unsuccessful. He first became a Minister in October 1999 in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ministry as Minister of State for Law, Justice and Company Affairs with additional charge of Parliamentary Affairs.

Mr. Bhatt is a member of the State committee of the party. He is also president of the local Bar Association.

Development plank

Our Staff Reporter writes from Palakkad:

Mr. Rajagopal, a member of the party's national executive, told a press conference that his campaign would focus on the development works he had taken up in the district as a Minister. The BJP leader said the new political situation in the State would help him win the seat.

He said the list of party candidates would be released officially only on March 23. However, party president Rajnath Singh announced his candidature at a public rally at Fort Maidan here on Monday.

Asked whether the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) would support his candidature, the BJP leader said that consultations were held at various levels before the announcement. ``I hope to get the support of the RSS and all other sections of the Sangh Parivar.''

Mr. Rajagopal said that Palakkad was his hometown; he started his political activity here in the 1950s and wanted to end it here itself. The BJP has expanded its base in the district considerably and has emerged as the single largest party in the municipal council in the recent civic polls.

The political turmoil in the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Congress will help the BJP get the votes of their traditional supporters.

Asked whether he would contest the election on party symbol or as an Independent to garner the votes of the traditional supporters of the Congress and the CPI(M), he said that ``they will not find it difficult to vote on the party symbol. In the Thiruvanathapuram Lok Sabha seat, a section of the CPI(M) cadres who were unhappy with the allotment of the seat to the CPI voted for me," he said.,'' he said.

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