After Rahul Gandhi was declared as the Congress candidate from Wayanad, contesting from two seats, BJP president Amit Shah took to Twitter to announce a change in the NDA candidate in the same constituency for the general elections.
Amit Shah tweeted, “I proudly announce Shri Thushar Vellappally, President of Bharat Dharma Jana Sena as NDA candidate from Wayanad. A vibrant and dynamic youth leader, he represents our commitment to development and social justice. With him, NDA will emerge as Kerala’s political alternative.”
I proudly announce Shri Thushar Vellappally, President of Bharat Dharma Jana Sena as NDA candidate from Wayanad.
A vibrant and dynamic youth leader, he represents our commitment towards development and social justice. With him, NDA will emerge as Kerala's political alternative.
— Amit Shah (Modi Ka Parivar) (@AmitShah) April 1, 2019
Thushar Vellappally was not the first choice of the NDA government. He replaced Paily Vathiattu, the earlier candidate in Wayanad from NDA. Thushar was to fight the elections from Thrissur and had already started his campaign there.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi accused Rahul Gandhi of contesting from a second seat while addressing a rally in Wayanad on Monday. He said that he is contesting from Kerala’s Wayanad as he knew he would be punished by voters for raising “Hindu terror”.
In response to PM Modi’s comment on the Congress President, the NDA coalition candidate who is replaced in the Wayanad constituency, Thushar Vellapally, 50, before he began a road show from a temple in Wayanad’s Kalpetta, said, “Kerala has a very different mentality. Communal votes won’t work in Kerala, everyone lives in harmony. I will get votes from all Hindus, Christians, Muslims. BDJS (Bharat Dharma Jana Sena) works for backward groups and Wayanad is one of the most backward districts of Kerala.”
Thushar Vellapally is the son of Vellapally Natesan, who heads the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam (SNDP).
The BJP, in the 2009 parliamentary elections, had won 4 percent of the votes in Wayanad, which rose to 9 percent in the 2016 assembly elections. However, while the margin of (Congress-led) UDF victory in 2009 in Wayanad was over 1 lakh votes of what LDF gained, the UDF won by just a margin of 20,000 in last parliamentary elections.
Kerala which has 20 Lok Sabha seats goes to polls in a single phase on April 23.