"Future PM" Rahul Gandhi's campaign to give momentum for UDF sweeping Kerala: K Muraleedharan

Thrissur: Congress's Thrissur Lok Sabha constituency candidate K Muraleedharan on Monday called his party's Wayanad candidate Rahul Gandhi a "future Prime Minister" and said that his campaign in Kerala will give momentum to the party to sweep the state in the 2024 general election.
"We will win here with a thumping majority. This time, we will retain all our sitting seats. We will capture the seat of Alleppey (Alappuzha), and KC Venugopal is contesting there. We will win 20 out of 20 seats," Muraleedharan told ANI.
When asked about Rahul Gandhi's campaign in Kerala, he said," He will be the future Prime Minister. So, his campaign will definitely boost our work."
When asked about Wayand Congress district committee general secretary PM Sudhakaran's joining the BJP, he said that it did not have much of a consequence for the Congress as he was "politically expired."
"He has politically expired. I agree that he is senior. But in 1996, when I contested there, he was against me. That is his nature. In fact, we are welcoming his decision," he said.
Sudhakaran quit the party and joined the BJP on Sunday.
After joining the BJP, PM Sudhakaran said that Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi was "not even accessible" to him.
"How can such a politician be accessible to the common man?" he added.
Admiring Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his vision for development, Sudhakaran said he wants the Kerala BJP chief to emerge victorious from the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat.
"BJP is a party that has more relevance in today's society. For the development projects of PM Modi to be implemented, K Surendran should be elected as the MP from Wayanad, and I will strive towards that. If the people of Wayanad elect the state president of the BJP, K Surendran, the people of Wayanad are going to benefit from it," said PM Sudhakaran at a function held where a retired forest range officer Shashi Kumar and civil engineer Prajeesh joined the BJP.
In Thrissur, Muraleedharan is pitted against Suresh Gopi, a popular actor from the Malayalam film industry, of the BJP, and VS Sunil Kumar of the CPI.
In the last general election, TN Prathapan of the Congress won with 4,15,089 votes in the constituency. The runner-up was Rajaji Mathew Thomas of CPI. The margin of victory was 93,633 votes.
All 20 constituencies in Kerala will go to the polls on April 26 in the second phase of the Lok Sabha election.
The Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) won 19 out of 20 seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. While the Congress won 15 seats, its allies, the Indian Union Muslim League, won two seats, the Revolutionary Socialist Party won one, and the Kerala Congress (M) won one seat. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) won one seat in Alappuzha.