As Kerala heads for the Assembly Elections, BJP state Vice President and former Director General of Police R Sreelekha has flagged off her campaign at Thiruvananthapuram’s Vattiyoorkavu. Although her name has not been officially announced by the party, Sreelekha is the second BJP leader in the state to begin election campaigning, following party state president Rajeev Chandrasekhar, to be fielded from Nemom.
Sreelekha, on Saturday, March 7, began her campaign by painting her name on a fence wall in Vattiyoorkkavu alongside the illustration of a lotus, the party’s official symbol.
The retired IPS officer is also the sitting Councillor of Thiruvananthapuram’s Sashthamangalam ward. Though she had earlier stated that she does not wish to contest elections, it is reported that the party leadership assigned her the task, instructing her to focus on the Vattiyoorkavu constituency.
Vattiyoorkkavu, currently a CPM-led constituency represented by VK Prasanth, is expected to witness a tight triangular fight between the BJP, CPM and Congress. It is speculated that the Congress will bring in K Muraleedharan in a bid to shake up the political status quo.
While the CPM will try to retain its stronghold over the constituency, the BJP is expected to capitalise on the party’s wins in the local body elections.
Recently, Sreelekha was booked under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act for allegedly revealing the identities of sexual abuse survivors, including that of a minor rape survivor, through her YouTube channel, Sasneham Sreelekha.
The FIR was registered by the Museum police in Thiruvananthapuram on February 26, based on a complaint filed by activist R Jayachandran, Secretary of Civil Rights and Social Justice, a human rights organisation.