BJP's attack on Rahul Gandhi boomerangs to Kerala chief K Surendran

BJP had in the 2019 Lok Sabha campaign asked Rahul Gandhi which seat he would quit from if he won in both constituencies

Kerala BJP state president K Surendran, who is contesting from two Assembly constituencies in the Kerala Assembly elections, is facing the question that the BJP earlier raised against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi - "Which constituency will you quit if you win both?"

In the 2019 Lok Sabha election when Rahul decided to contest from Wayanad in Kerala apart from his then constituency Amethi in Uttar Pradesh, the BJP tried to embarrass Rahul by asking which seat he would quit if he wins both. The saffron party widely used this attack during the campaign.

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On Sunday soon after BJP national leaders announced Surendran's candidature at Manjeshwaram in Kasaragod and Konni in Pathanamthitta, Surendran started facing the same question. But his responses were evasive.

Surendran said that he was contesting from Manjeshwaram as he lost the seat just by 89 votes in the 2016 Assembly election, which was allegedly due to malpractice by his competing camps. Surendran had even initiated a legal battle against the election alleging many bogus votes. But the winner in the constituency P B Abdul Razak of Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), a coalition partner of Congress-led UDF, who later passed away.

However, in the subsequent bypolls BJP fielded Raveesh Thantri Kuntar instead of Surendran. Though he also brought in more votes than that secured by Surendran, IUML's M C Kamaruddin won with a comfortable lead of 7,900 votes as the votes gained by the CPI(M) candidate was much lower.

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Surendran opted for Konni as his second constituency as it is close to Sabarimala Ayyappa temple and it was the epicentre of the protests against entry of women in the 10-50 age group to the temple.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP witnessed a surge at Konni. The constituency was considered a Congress stronghold till 2016 as Adoor Prakash, who is now a Lok Sabha MP, had been representing the seat for two decades since 1996. While BJP candidate D Ashok Kumar secured only 16,713 votes in 2016, in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, which happened soon after the Sabarimala issue, K Surendran who contested from Pathanamthitta Lok Sabha seat secured 46,506 votes in the Konni Assembly segment, which was very close to Congress and CPI(M) candidates.

Even as Surendran contested in Konni in the 2019 Assembly bypolls subsequent to Adoor Prakash being elected to the Lok Sabha, Surendran secured only 39,786 votes and came third while CPI(M)'s K U Jenish Kumar won. Infights in the Congress was said to be the reason why CPI(M) candidate P Mohanraj won. Surendran is hopeful that the Sabarimala women entry issue would still help him gain votes at Konni.

Meanwhile, if Surendran fails to perform well in both the constituencies this time, it could be a major political setback to him as already a section of top leaders of BJP Kerala unit were not in good terms with him, especially following his elevation to party state president post.