Thiruvananthapuram battle of the biggies: BJP feels it has answer for Shashi Tharoor

Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar kicked off his campaign as the BJP’s candidate in Thiruvananthapuram Monday with a bike rally amid loud cheers from his party workers.

Chandrasekhar’s plunge into the capital fray has turned it into a triangular affair, which will be one of the most watched battles in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

Senior Congress leader and ex-Union minister Shashi Tharoor has been winning the Thiruvananthapuram seat since 2009. He is now set to be nominated by the Congress for his fourth bid.

The CPM-led LDF has fielded CPI leader Pannyan Raveendran from the constituency, who had won it in 2005.

Both Chandrasekhar, 59, and Tharoor, 67, are high-profile faces, both suave and articulate leaders known for their various accomplishments. On the other hand, Raveendran, 78, has been positioning himself as an underdog.

The BJP, which has set a target of 370 seats this time, exudes confidence that it has fielded a candidate who can stand up to Tharoor’s stature.

Like Tharoor, Chandrasekhar also has a global perspective, navigating governance – he has been the Minister of State for IT and Skill Development since July 2021 – as well as the corporate sector. He has been a technology entrepreneur engaged in the semiconductor manufacturing sector.

The BJP believes Chandrasekhar is its best bet for Thiruvananthapuram, an aspirational middle class constituency.

Former UN diplomat, Tharoor is among the most popular Congress leaders in Kerala, whose image was further burnished after he contested, albeit unsuccessfully, the Congress presidential election in October 2022.

Even in the 2014 elections, when he was faced with one of his toughest challenges in the wake of his wife Sunanda Pushkar’s demise, Tharoor managed to retain