Kerala unit of Shiv Sena slams BJP; announces 24 candidates

Shiv Sena will contest 45 out of the 140 assembly seats where the BJP and its allies have fielded their important leaders to "reveal their real faces", party leader T R Devan said.

Kochi: Shiv Sena, not a part of the NDA in Kerala, on Saturday accused BJP of taking the path of "political opportunism" in the poll-bound state and announced its candidates for 24 Assembly constituencies for the May 16 elections.

The party would contest 45 out of the 140 assembly seats where the BJP and its allies have fielded their important leaders to "reveal their real faces", Shiv Sena's state unit Political Affairs Committee Chairman, T R Devan said.

"BJP state unit has no right to constitute NDA in Kerala. They have constituted an NDA incorporating smaller parties ousted by both LDF and UDF. It shows they are political opportunists. BJP will be wiped out of the state after the polls," he said in a statement here.

Devan added that Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray had approved the first list of the 24 candidates for the Assembly polls.