The BJP is likely to field cricketer S Sreesanth in the Kerala Assembly election.
The 33-year-old former national player, who also played for Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League (IPL), is likely to stand from Thrippunithura near here. BJP sources said the party is “seriously considering” the cricketer, and that an official announcement will be made on Thursday.
Sreesanth’s cricketing career came to a shocking halt when, in May 2013, the Delhi police arrested him and two of his Rajasthan Royals teammates on charges of spot-fixing in IPL matches. In September that year the Board of Control for Cricket in India banned him for life. However, last year he was acquitted of the spot-fixing charge.
Sreesanth told mediapersons on Tuesday that the BJP leadership had offered him Ernakulam and Thrippunithura constituencies and that he picked the latter. If the BJP nominates him in Thrippunithura, the cricketer will likely be pitted against K Babu of the Congress. Babu, who has won the seat five times in a row, is the Excise and Fisheries Minister in the current Oommen Chandy government. Babu is alleged to have received bribes in the “bar scam” along with former State Finance Minister KM Mani.
The BJP is considering a host of celebrities, mainly from the film field, as its candidates in the election.