BJP State President of Kerala K Surendran has invited fresh trouble after the state police had booked a case against him for allegedly bribing and threatening a candidate of the opposition party to withdraw his nomination in the assembly polls. 

According to reports, Surendran was accused of bribing and threatening Sundara, the candidate of the Bahujan Samaj Party, who filed his nomination to contest in the Manjeshwar assembly constituency against Surendran in the election that was held in the state on April 6. The development has become the first against the state high command of the Central ruling party since the new government is formed in the state.

The police said that the case was registered as per the directions of a magistrate court that had considered a petition filed by VV Ramesan, the CPI(M) candidate who fought the election against Surendran in Manjeshwar. The BJP state president was booked under sections 171 (B) and (E) - Bribery of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). 

BSP Candidate Sundara had alleged recently that he was initially threatened and later given Rs 2.5 lakh as a bribe by the BJP with the demand to withdraw from the contest against the BJP President. Sundara had alleged that Sunil Naik, a Yuvamorcha leader and a close aide of BJP state president K Surendran, had handed over the money and a smartphone. 

Sundara had contested in the 2016 polls and he had withdrawn his nomination from the 2021 polls. He has now accused Surendran of threatening him to withdraw the nomination. Though the case was filed against the BJP President, the Central ruling party has dismissed all the allegations and maintained the allegation as a conspiracy against the party.  

As per Sundara's complaint, the Kasaragod police had conducted a preliminary inquiry and besides Sundara, CPI(M)'s VV Ramesan had also filed a petition in this regard with district police chief PB Rajeev. The police department had said that the case could be registered only with the concurrence of the court. The case was then registered as per the directions of a magistrate court based on the petition filed by Ramesan. 

Eventually, the Manjeshwar constituency was won by AKM Ashraf of the LDF alliance after defeating BJP's Surendran with a margin of 745 votes. The LDF coalition had swept the assembly polls after securing 97 seats of 140 assembly seats. With a landslide victory, Pinarayi Vijayan has formed the government for the second consecutive term.