‘Not even a BJP sympathiser’: Party’s pick for Kerala’s Mananthavady won’t contest

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was left red faced on Monday when an MBA grad on the party’s list of candidates for the April 6 assembly election pulled out saying that he was not even a ‘BJP sympathiser’ and that there was some mistake. The party had named him as a candidate from Mananthavady seat in Wayanad district.

“I am not interested in contesting for the party. I would like to work as per my qualification and look after my family,” Manikuttan, who belongs to the Paniya tribe in wayanad, told Mathrubhumi, adding that he was not a BJP sympathiser.

Manikuttan, short for Manikandan, is an MBA graduate and is the first among the Paniya community to get the degree. The 31-year-old says that he was home watching TV when he got the news of his name being on the BJP list. “Immediately, the party district leaders got in  touch with me,” he told the website. He works as a teaching assistant in Kerala Veterinary and Animal Science University.

The controversy comes at a time when the BJP is going all out to present a challenge to the ruling LDF and the Opposition UDF in the upcoming polls. The party has roped in the Metroman, E Sreedharan, as a face of its campaign and even announced his candidature for the chief minister post before hastily withdrawing it. The 88-year-old is contesting from Palakkad.

The BJP has one seat in the outgoing assembly, Nemom. Former state BJP chief and ex-Governor of Mizoram Kummanam Rajasekharan will be contesting from Nemom seat in the upcoming elections. This is one of the most watched constituencies in the state. In 2016, the Congress fielded its former state president and sitting MP K Muraleedharan from the seat, while the CPM has put up V Sivankutty, who won from Nemom in 2011.