Kerala: Celebrations begin at Suresh Gopi's home as BJP nominee takes handsome lead

Thiruvananthapuram, June 4 (IANS) After the halfway stage of counting of votes for the Thrissur Lok Sabha seat in Kerala, BJP's actor-turned-politician Suresh Gopi's lead over CPI's V.S. Sunilkumar has swelled to more than 60,000 votes, raising the hopes of the Lotus blooming in the southern state for the first time.

Former Union Minister Prakash Javadekar, who reached the popular actor's residence in the state capital here, told the media that Prime Minister Modi has changed Kerala’s politics forever.

“For 75 years, Kerala saw bi-polar politics but PM Modi has changed that forever. We will win in Thrissur and Thiruvananthapuram,” said a confident Javadekar.

In Thiruvananthapuram, BJP's Rajeev Chandrasekhar has increased his lead to over 23,000 votes against sitting Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, raising hopes for a second seat for the BJP in Kerala.

Also in Attingal, BJP nominee and Union Minister V. Muraleedharan is giving a tough fight to Adoor Prakash of the Congress and CPI-M’s V. Joy, trailing by a little over 6,000 votes.

The biggest surprise in Thrissur is Congress MP K. Muraleedharan trailing in third place behind Gopi and Sunilkumar. Muraleedharan was elected as Congress MP from Vadakara in 2019, but was shifted to Thrissur before the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

Muraleedharan’s sister and former Congress leader Padmaja Venugopal joined the BJP ahead of the polls and campaigned extensively against her brother.