Surendran to file fresh nomination as more cases surface against him

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Pathanamthitta BJP candidate K Surendran would submit a fresh set of nomination on Thursday, following a new information that over 200 cases were registered against him which he was unaware when he filed his nomination on Saturday.
Surendran had mentioned in his nomination that about 22 cases are pending against him. But as per a state government affidavit filed in the high court on March 29, as many as 242 non bailable criminal cases are registered against the BJP leader in connection with Sabarimala issues.“LDF government is trying to hunt down its political opponents. The cases with malicious intention wouldn’t stand the scrutiny of law. We will fight the cases legally,” Surendran said.
BJP spokesperson M S Kumar said the cases were registered in connection with BJP hartals on January 2 and 3. “Surendran is accused of destruction of public properties across the state during hartals. While one case was registered at Cantonment police station in Thiruvananthapuram at 11am on January 2, a similar case was registered against him at Kumbala police station in Kasaragod at 11.30am on the same day. All the 222 cases were registered on January 2 and 3. It’s humanly impossible for a person to be present at these many places in 48 hours. Since Surendran had not called for the hartal, there is no provision to implicate him,” Kumar said.
Left govt slapping false cases on BJP leaders: Krishnadas
BJP national executive member P K Krishnadas has alleged that the Pinarayi Vijayan-led LDF government was foisting false cases upon party leaders in the state.
“They have filed cases against state president of the party P S Sreedharan Pillai, V Muraleedharan, K Surendran and me,” he said.
With inputs from Kochi