Ex-Keralam CS says CEC urged him to contest on BJP ticket

Former Keralam chief secretary Jiji Thomson said on Saturday, September 26, that Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar had suggested he contest the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from Pathanamthitta on a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ticket.

Speaking to The Hindu, Thomson said the conversation took place on a Delhi flight in 2015-16. “It was not an offer but a friendly suggestion. I was serving as the Chief Secretary of Keralam and was nearing the end of my career when, on a flight to Delhi, Kumar asked about my retirement plans. I said I had no such plans whatsoever. It was at this point that he suggested I could contest from the Pathanamthitta Lok Sabha constituency for the BJP.”

He added that Kumar called him a ‘good speaker’ and belonged to a minority community, and it was when the BJP was looking for Christian candidates in Kerala, ‘but I said I am not too ambitious.'”

Responding to speculations over him landing a senior government posting if the UDF returned to power in the state, he said, “But my priority has always been to focus on Bhaavika, a charitable organisation which runs a student enrichment programme absolutely free of cost.”