Former Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar elected BJP Kerala unit chief
The Bharatiya Janata Party leader was the only nominee for the post and will succeed K Surendran.
The Bharatiya Janata Party’s Kerala unit on Monday unanimously elected former Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar as its president.
The former minister of state for water resources succeeds K Surendran, who held the post since 2020.
Chandrasekhar was the only candidate for the position, reported PTI. He submitted two sets of nomination papers for the role at the BJP’s state headquarters in Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday.
The former Union minister had contested the 2024 Lok Sabha elections from Thiruvananthapuram as the National Democratic Alliance candidate. He was defeated by Congress’ Shashi Tharoor by 16,077 votes.
After his loss, the BJP leader announced on social media that it was “curtains down on his 18-year stint of public service”. He soon retracted his post, claiming an end to his tenure in Parliament.
Today marks the end of my 18 years long stint as a MP and my 3 years as Minister of State in the Council of Ministers under Hon'ble Prime Minister Narendra Modi Ji.
— Rajeev Chandrasekhar 🇮🇳 (@RajeevRC_X) June 9, 2024
A tweet - tweeted by a new young intern in my team - thanking everyone for their inspiration and support during…
Chandrasekhar has represented Karnataka in the Rajya Sabha for three terms and served as the BJP’s national spokesperson. He is also vice chairman of the National Democratic Alliance’s Kerala unit.
In the previous Narendra Modi-led government, he served as the Union Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology, Skill Development and Entrepreneurship and Jal Shakti.
In 2023, the Kerala Police booked Chandrasekhar for allegedly promoting enmity between different groups through social media posts about blasts that took place at a convention centre of the Christian group Jehovah’s Witnesses in the Ernakulam district, leaving six persons dead.
