BSP to contest all seats in Kerala

The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) will contest all 20 parliamentary seats in Kerala without an alliance or understanding with any party, BSP general secretary Suresh Mane said.

The party has already announced the list of 13 candidates, including Dr Neelalohitadas from Thiruvananthapuram, K K Nair from Pathanamthitta and J Sudhakaran from Attingal.

The remaining seven candidates will be announced tomorrow in Kozhikode, Mane told mediapersons here today. He said BSP has emerged as a "powerful" alternative to United Democratic Front and Left Democratic Front as the people were fed up with the policies and programmes of UDF and LDF.

The party hopes to get "massive" support from Dalits, Dalit Christians and even Muslims, Mane said. The party's election campaign in Kerala will begin at Thiruvananthapuram on March 21 and party president and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati will address the rally, he said.