BJP leader Anil Antony will meet PC George today amid the latter's displeasure over fielding him in Pathanamthitta for the upcoming Lok Sabha election. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had released the first list on Saturday (Mar 02).
Kottayam: P C George, who recently joined the BJP with his son Shaun George, is unhappy that the party has chosen to field Anil Antony from the Pathanamthitta seat and is upset that he was not granted a ticket to contest in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections. George, whose Kerala Janapaksham party joined with the BJP a month before, claimed that Anil lacks the popular backing of his father and prominent Congress leader A K Antony.
Amid this, Anil Antony would meet George at his residence in Poonjar today for persuasion. Anil Antony has decided to start his constituency tour only after seeking the support of PC George. The persuasion attempt is in the context of PC George's opposition to Anil Antony's candidature. Anil Antony's visit comes as per the direction of the BJP leadership. He will meet the BJP district leaders and meet PC George this evening.
The BJP central leadership is monitoring the situation in Pathanamthitta regarding the displeasure against Anil Antony's candidature.
George stated that the coalition will face a difficult struggle during the campaign since Anil is a fresh face in Pathanamthitta. George had anticipated that the NDA would field him or his son Shaun in the state. George expressed his amazement at the announcement of Anil's nomination by the central BJP leadership.
PC George told Asianet News that K Surendran and PS Sreedharan Pillai might have contested in Pathanamthitta and that it is ridiculous to try to persuade people that Anil Antony is a candidate. BJP announced the first list of candidates contesting in the upcoming Lok Sabha Elections on Saturday (Mar 02).
At the same time, BJP Chittar Constituency Vice President KS Prathapan criticized that Pathanamthitta was a constituency with a high probability of victory and he did not know on what basis such a candidate was nominated. As PC George said, there is a need to introduce Anil Antony to Pathanamthitta, he remarked. He also clarified that he would only accept the candidate if the RSS asked him to do so.