The Loktantrik Janata Dal (LJD) Kerala unit has staked a claim for the Rajya Sabha seat that has fallen vacant following the death of M.P. Veerendrakumar in May.
The party has put forward State president M.V. Shreyams Kumar as its nominee.
The Left Democratic Front (LDF) has positively reacted to the talks held between LJD and CPI(M) leaders in this regard recently. “We met and discussed the Rajya Sabha seat with both CPI(M) secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. We got a favourable response but not towards a settlement,” LJD State secretary general Sheikh P. Haris, told The Hindu.
In the reckoning
Previously the CPI(M) was weighing options on its own candidates for the Rajya Sabha seat and rumours were rife on multiple names from senior leaders to a journalist attached to the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO).
However, the party appears to have a rethink on its candidature possibly in the context of two issues, including the gold smuggling case, that has put the Pinarayi Vijayan government on the defensive as it entered its fifth year of governance.
The newly elected Rajya Sabha member will have to serve only for the remaining term of Veerendrakumar and will not have pension, travel and health benefits entitled to an ex-MP. Further, the LDF did not want to take a hard line on the Rajya Sabha seat soon after the death of Veerendrakumar.
“The LJD State unit has decided on Mr. Shreyams Kumar for the Rajya Sabha seat,” Mr. Haris said.
Previous nominee
As the LDF-backed Independent candidate, Veerendrakumar was elected to the Rajya Sabha in March 2018. He was then the Kerala unit chief of the JD(U) and had resigned from his Rajya Sabha seat in protest against his party’s decision to align with the National Democratic Alliance government in December 2017.
After Veerendrakumar lost the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the United Democratic Front placated him by offering him a Rajya Sabha seat in 2016.
Incidentally, the abrupt crisis in the LJD last week, triggered by the replacement and reinstallation of Mr. Shreyams Kumar as party chief, has been attributed to a senior leader eyeing the Rajya Sabha seat.