Vengara by-poll: BJP likely to field Sobha Surendran

Thiruvananthapuram: BJP state general secretary Sobha Surendran is likely to enter the fray in the Vengara by-poll.

The BJP core committee and the NDA meetings decided that  a state-level BJP leader should  be fielded in Vengara.

The NDA leaders  said that since a local NDA candidate would fare badly in Vengara, a leader of Sobha's stature should contest from there. The  BJP core committee opted for her, though she was absent.  State president Kummanam Rajasekharan told reporters that a final decision  will be taken soon. "The announcement will be made by the BJP central leadership,"  he said.

The  Bharat Dharma Jana Sena leaders stayed away from the meeting protesting against the neglect meted out to the party by the BJP national leadership over its demands.

Apart from   Mr  Kummanam, former presidents O. Rajagopal, P. S. Sreedharan Pillai and P. K. Krishnadas,  state general secretaries M. T. Ramesh and A. N. Radhakrishnan and organisational general secretary M. Ganesh also attended the core committee meeting.

The meeting also assessed the possibilities of  fielding Yuva Morcha state president K. P. Prakash Babu and  former Malappuram district president K. Jinachandran in Vengara.   The BJP had polled only 7,055 candidates in the last Assembly election in Vengara.