BJP ends suspense on Pathanamthitta, the constituency that houses Sabarimala

Ending the suspense over its candidate in Pathanamthitta,where the Sabarimala shrine is located, BJP Saturday announced the name of K Surendran, state general secretary who will try his luck from the constituency. The BJP, while announcing its first list of 184 candidates on Thursday, including 13 from Kerala, had left out only Pathanamthitta constituency.

In the list released by the party Saturday, Surendran's name was included.

The saffron party, which is seeking to open its account in Lok Sabha from Kerala in the April 23 polls, is contesting 14 of the 20 seats in the state, leaving five to its allies -- BDJS (Bharat Dharma Jana Sena) and one to Kerala Congress led by P C Thomas. The party, which had spearheaded the agitation over the CPI(M) led LDF government's decision to implement the Supreme Court's verdict, allowing women of all age groups to offer prayers at the hill shrine of Lord Ayyappa late last year, is pinning hopes on Pathanamithitta constituency. BJP state President P S Sreedharan Pillai, state General secretaries K Surendran and M T Ramesh and Union minister Alphons Kannanthanam were all keen on the Pathanamthitta seat. However, Kannanthanam has been fielded in Ernakulam. Surendran was in the forefront of the agitation over the entry of women in menstrual age into Lord Ayyappa temple in Sabarimala and had been incarcerated for nearly a month over the protest.

Surendran told reporters that BJP would face the polls unitedly and expressed confidence of a massive win in Pathnamthitta. He described the Congress party's proposed move to field Rahul Gandhi from Wayanad as a "historical blunder".