Union Minister of State (Mos) for External Affairs V Muraleedharan.
Credit: PTI Photo
Political Party: BJP
Parliamentary Constituency: Attingal, Kerala
It was during V Muraleedharan's term as BJP state president in Kerala that the NDA vote share entered double digits to reach 10.8 percent in 2014 Lok Sabha election.
In the 2016 Kerala Assembly elections, he was the runner-up at Kazhakootam seat in Thiruvananthapuram.
He was duly rewarded by the party and was made a Rajya Sabha member from Maharashtra in 2018 and was later made a minister of state for external affairs in the second Narendra Modi government.
A native of Kannur in North Kerala, Muraleedharan was actively involved in RSS and ABVP right from his student days.
Though he contested the Lok Sabha from Kozhikode in 2009, he came in third place.
This time he is taking on sitting MP Adoor Prakash of Congress and CPM Thiruvananthapuram district secretary V Joy at Attingal.