Lok Sabha elections 2024: Meet the man BJP has picked to take on Rahul Gandhi from Wayanad

The BJP on Sunday announced four more candidates for Lok Sabha elections in Kerala, which votes on April 26. 

Wayanad takes the spotlight because its sitting MP is Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. 
BJP has fielded party state president K Surendran.
CPI national leader Annie Raja is the LDF candidate there.

With the surprise candidature of Surendran in Wayanad, a traditional Congress bastion, the BJP is trying to give a fitting reply to its opponents by fielding a strong candidate against Rahul Gandhi. Surendran, the face of the saffron party's fierce agitations against the entry of young women into Sabarimala years ago, has been serving as the president of the state unit of the BJP since 2020.

Hailing from Ulleyeri in Kozhikode district, Surendran, who began his career as Wayanad district president of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, had unsuccessfully contested from Pathanamthitta in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

Though he was fielded from Konni in the assembly bypoll in the same year, he couldn't make it.

Known as a close confidant of Union Minister V Muraleedharan, Surendran lost the Manjeswaram constituency by a mere 89 votes in the 2016 Assembly polls.

Surendran has contested all three Lok Sabha elections since 2009 and also four Assembly elections. 
In 2021, he contested from Konni and Manjeshwar seats simultaneously. In 2016, Surendran had lost Manjeshwar seat by a mere 86 votes.