Kochi: When Okay. Surendran alighted the Kerala Express on the Thiruvalla railway station after being named the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate from Pathanamthitta in 2019, he was accorded a rapturous welcome. Such was the delirium that excessive caste Hindu girls fell on the Sabarimala poster boy’s ft at will. Of course, Surendran went on to lose, however he greater than doubled the vote share of the social gathering, rising an in depth third.
Come 2024, Pathanamthitta was thought of — together with Thrissur and, to an extent Thiruvananthapuram as seats the BJP stood an excellent probability to win. For a constituency with a Hindu and Christian section of 57 and 38 p.c respectively, and Muslims constituting lower than 5 p.c, there have been many suitors within the social gathering with no one having any specific ‘claim’ on it.
When P.C. George, the Kerala Congress veteran — who had burned his bridges with each the Congress and the Left — merged his Kerala Janapaksham (Secular) into the BJP, it appeared he had emerged in pole place for Pathanamthitta. And George let loose sufficient hints that he was requested to fuse his social gathering with the BJP as a prerequisite to win the ticket.
Aspirants galore
Not that there weren’t sufficient aspirants within the BJP itself: From BJP nationwide govt committee member Kummanam Rajasekharan to Goa Governor P.S. Sreedharan Pillai, all of them had been ‘willing’, given an opportunity, based on BJP leaders.
Yet, the largest shock within the first listing for Kerala proved to be Anil Antony’s candidature from Pathanamthitta.
Anil’s identify was doing the rounds for Ernakulam and Chalakudy, though BJP had no life like probability there. And Anil’s shock candidature in Pathanamthitta hasn’t gone down too nicely with the opposite hopefuls, together with these from the district unit. “From Pillai Sir and Kummanam to P.C. George and Shone George or even Surendran, BJP had a plethora of leaders to choose from. No idea why they would go with Anil,” a BJP chief in Pathanamthitta advised ThePrint.
The joke doing the rounds is that the BJP needs the voters to get confused between the names of Anil with Congress candidate and three-time sitting MP Anto Antony.
“Even if that were true, the leadership should have opted for (BJYM ex-national secretary) Anoop Antony and not Anil,” acknowledged the above chief.
Vellappally Natesan’s purported position
Every week earlier than the candidature was introduced, there have been stories that the BJP ally Bharat Dharma Jana Sena (BDJS) had reservations towards the selection of P.C. George, given his controversial statements towards the Ezhavas, a backward Hindu group.
This was confirmed by Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam (SNDP) basic secretary Vellappally Natesan, whose son Thushar Vellappally is the BDJS president.
However, based on BJP leaders in Kerala and New Delhi, George being denied the seat had nothing to do with the BDJS. “Vellappally Natesan is the proverbial Ettukali Mammoonju (a comic character in Vaikom Muhammad Bashir’s satire ‘Sthalathe Pradhana Divyan’). Anil Antony’s nomination was clearly a decision of the BJP’s central leadership,” a BJP chief primarily based in Kottayam advised ThePrint.
However, the narrative within the Kerala media discourse is that BDJS/SNDP’s reservations put paid to P.C. George’s hopes. A wounded George has been going hammer and tongs on the BDJS previously fortnight, from alleging that BDJS is promoting its 4 seats for money to calling Thushar Vellappally a “small boy”.
BJP’s state in-charge Prakash Javadekar visited George at his residence for harm management, however the latter has already brought on appreciable harm to the social gathering. On being requested about it, Thushar Vellappally refused to talk to ThePrint saying “there is nothing more to speak on it.”
On his half, Anil Antony visited George to assuage his emotions and claimed that he didn’t foyer for the seat.
Also Read: Thrissur twist: How Congress offset desertion by ex-CM’s daughter with a shock candidate
A winnable candidate
Many Kerala BJP leaders that ThePrint reached out to recommended that Sreedharan Pillai might have been the “best possible choice” in Pathanamthitta.
“Pillai sir would have secured the backing of the Nair Service Society and the various Christian denominations, especially the Malankara Orthodox Church. He is acceptable to Ezhavas, too,” stated certainly one of them.
Pillai is thought to nurture ties with Christian denominations from the time he first grew to become the Kerala BJP president and engineered the victory of National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate P.C. Thomas at Muvattupuzha in 2004.
In the run-up to 2024, Pillai was seen attending the capabilities of no less than 4 Christian denominations in Kottayam and Pathanamthitta.
It can also be learnt that Changanacherry Archbishop Joseph Perunthottam was hosted by Pillai at Goa lately, which the latter didn’t deny. “I am very comfortable in my current position, and I don’t want to court any controversy,” Pillai laughed off.
Pillai had advised the Samakalika Malayalam weekly that he was conscious that the media was speculating about his nomination however no one from the BJP approached him.
But he admitted to ThePrint that “some Christian denominations wanted me to be the candidate in Pathanamthitta.”
Anto Antony’s luck
When Pathanamthitta was carved out in 2009 from Adoor and Mavelikkara constituencies, the then Kottayam District Congress Committee president Anto Antony’s identify was proposed by A.Okay. Antony himself. Anto not solely received in 2009 however repeated the efficiency towards veteran Congress turncoat Peelipose Thomas in 2014 and within the triangular contest with Veena George and Okay. Surendran in 2019.
This time, Congress strategist Sunil Kanugolu had red-flagged Pathanamthitta as of specific concern. Anti-incumbency apart, Anto was not as energetic as he was previously. The Congress cleared his identify solely on the final minute after dilly-dallying with a proposal to exchange him with Abin Varkey, a younger Turk.
“I know most Kerala politicians but have never met this fellow until now,” stated Joseph C. Mathew, a commentator together with his base in Pathanamthitta.
However, Anto appears to have luck in his favour as soon as once more.
Apart from Anil’s candidature, the CPI(M) choosing veteran T.M. Thomas Isaac can also be being seen as an enormous blunder, bypassing a extra winnable candidate in five-term Ranni MLA Raju Abraham. “Anto Antony should take a lottery ticket right now,” laughed a Congress chief primarily based in Kottayam.
Isaac’s identify was initially pencilled in at Ernakulam and Chalakudy (as was the case with Anil), however based on Left leaders ThePrint reached out to, he didn’t fancy his probabilities in these Congress strongholds and as an alternative opted for Pathanamthitta.
Isaac reckons his contacts from his days on the Bishop Moor College will maintain him in good stead, however Mathew believes that he “burned his bridges with them.”
The veteran can also be dealing with the brunt of anti-incumbency towards the Pinarayi Vijayan authorities, which hasn’t disbursed the social safety pensions previously seven months. As the high-profile finance minister within the first Vijayan ministry (2016-21), Isaac will probably be pressured to subject questions on pensions as his fiscal profligacy is meant to have led to the state exchequers working dry.
The million-dollar query
As Prime Minister Narendra Modi campaigned Friday for Anil Antony in Pathanamthitta, the million-dollar query turns into how he managed to pip many heavyweights within the much-coveted seat. There are many theories doing the rounds, though none can actually clarify the logic behind it.
One factor is for certain: Anil’s identify was not among the many three names short-listed by the Kerala unit and forwarded to the BJP’s Central Parliamentary Board. “The state unit was always aware that the candidates in Thiruvananthapuram and Pathanamthitta were going to be the central leadership’s call,” acknowledged Yuvaraj Gokul, lately co-opted to the BJP from the Sangh Parivar.
Even Shone George reckons that it was the central management’s name. He advised ThePrint that he was by no means in competition as he had requested to not be thought of since his father “P.C. George was the winnable candidate”.
Because Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar ensured the becoming a member of of P.C. George within the BJP, the candidature in Pathanamthitta was thought to be a performed deal initially.
A veteran BJP chief primarily based in Thiruvananthapuram tried to second guess the selection in Anil Antony: “Look, I think the PM must have seen something in Anil that we cannot. If Anil was fielded from Ernakulam or Chalakudy, he could have ended up fourth, with Twenty20 candidates too in the fray. Being fielded from Pathanamthitta ensures that he will at least finish with a respectable vote share.”
“The Kerala BJP is too faction-ridden and is just like the Congress. Even the strong RSS in Kerala becomes inert because of that. Maybe Modi sees Anil as someone without any baggage or vested interests; someone who can be remote-controlled from Delhi and, who knows, they might give Anil a bigger assignment in future, as the experiment with Annamalai in Tamil Nadu worked out fine,” he stated, when pressed particularly about Anil.
But would veterans settle for such a transfer? “What choice would we have? It is easy to caricaturise Anil, but three decades ago (Congress MP and former CM Karunakaran’s son) K. Muraleedharan also went through such ridiculing by the Kerala press and see how strong he has emerged now,” the BJP veteran added.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
Also Read: Pinarayi Vijayan’s Nava Kerala Sadas— a travelling circus masquerading as outreach
