Key Points
They were awaiting the arrival of 59-year-old Union minister and Bharatiya Janata Party candidate from Thiruvananthapuram Rajeev Chandrasekhar.P)..
Around 40 kilometres away, in Puliyarakonam in neighbouring Attingal constituency, a similar welcome was arranged for yet another Union minister of state belonging to the BJP, V Muraleedharan..
Unlike Chandrasekhar whos making his debut in Keralas electoral politics, Muraleedharan is the partys former state president and has contested both assembly and Lok Sabha elections several times, albeit unsuccessfully..
By fielding the two ministers in constituencies where the BJP has recorded over 25% votes in the last election, a win in at least one would buttress its support base in a state where it has never won a Lok Sabha seat..
Though BJP came close to winning the constituency in 2014 when O Rajagopal fell to Tharoor by just around 10,000 votes, the margin of the Congress leader widened to over 99,000 votes in 2019, a gap which will be difficult to bridge for any contender..
