Suresh Gopi, Rahul Easwar out of BJP poll list

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Actor Suresh Gopi and scion of Sabarimala tantri family Rahul Easwar are out from the BJP’s list of candidates Union health minister and central election committee secretary J. P. Nadda announced Saturday.

Cricketer S. Sreesanth (Thiruvananthapuram) and senior RSS man Prof Thuravoor Viswambharan (Tripunithura) figure prominently on the second list of 51 nominees. Though BJP leadership approached tribal leader C. K. Janu to contest on BJP ticket, she declined the offer.

BJP sources told DC that Suresh Gopi informed the BJP leadership about his firm decision not to contest. They also said Mr Easwar himself concocted the theory that he had been approached by the BJP leadership which was not true.

Meanwhile, Sreesanth, who was in New Delhi, on Friday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP national president Amit Shah and later took BJP membership. Contrary to Sreesanth’s claim to Thripunithura, the BJP leadership was keen to see that he contests from the star constituency in the state capital.
Local BJP leaders in Thrippunithura were against him contesting from there as Prof Viswambaran’s name was already announced.

“A senior leader of Prof Viswambaran’s stature should not be shifted to another constituency which was the general feeling of the local leadership,” said a BJP source. He retired as a professor at Maharaja’s College.

Sreesanth after taking the party membership told reporters that he was taking up the challenge as people of Kerala are keen to see a change of government. “It is a false statement that BCCI will lift the ban imposed on me to resume my cricket career if I contest under the BJP banner. It was BJP leaders who rallied behind me when I came across a tough time in my cricketing career. Even though I am entering politics, I will not bid goodbye to cricket,” he said.

Meanwhile, Shashi Tharoor MP said it indicated that the BJP has given up and already conceded defeat on that seat. "I think this is quite amusing because it suggests that the BJP has already given up any hope of that seat. Let's face it... Thiruvananthapuram is a place where you have an educated electorate. Kerala generally has not been a hospitable ground for celebrity candidates, sportsmen, actors," he said. "There are a lot of educated people, government officials, bureaucrats and so on."