As the Left Democratic Front (LDF) surged to victory in Kerala, the Bharatiya Janata Party created history by winning its first assembly seat in the state. Veteran leader O Rajagopal, who contested from Nemom seat in Thiruvananthapuram, defeated sitting MLA V Sivankutty of CPI-M by 8671 votes.
Several leaders from the party expressed their hearty congratulations on Twitter:
Congrats to O Rajagopal ji on winning 1st ever seat for BJP in Kerala & securing BJP's entry in Kerala Legislative Assembly. @BJP4Keralam
— Shahnawaz Hussain (@ShahnawazBJP) May 19, 2016
From Myanmar, Congratulations to Shri O Rajagopal, a senior leader of @BJP4Keralam on his spectacular victory in Nemom.
— Nirmala Sitharaman (@nsitharaman) May 19, 2016
Here is all you need to know about the 86-year-old man, popularly known as 'Rajettan', who helped BJP open its account in Kerala:
(With inputs from PTI)