Not aware of any move to field me, says TP Sreenivasan

Thiruvananthapuram: Former diplomat and eminent academic T.P. Sreenivasan may find a place in the UDF list to fight the Assembly elections. Chief Minister Oommen Chandy is said to be keen on fielding Mr  Sreenivisan from Nemom to take on Mr O. Rajagopal of the  BJP and sitting MLA V. Sivankutty of the CPM.

However, Mr Sreeniva-san, presently vice-chairman of the   Kerala State Higher Education Council, refused to comment on the speculations over his candidature. Mr Sreenivasan told DC that he had  not approached anyone for a seat.  “I am not aware whether there is  any UDF move to field me,”  he said.

The Socialist Janata Dal (SJD) which had contested the seat during the last Assembly elections later merged with the Janata Dal (United), a constituent of the UDF. In 2011,  the UDF came third in Nemom while in the last Lok Sabha elections, Mr Rajagopal led in the segment.

However, this time around, JD (U) was not keen on  Nemom. It is learnt that  it has asked for some other constituencies like Vamanapuram or Kovalam. The UDF wants to cash in on the wide publicity gained by Mr Sreenivasan who was assaulted by an SFI activist  outside the Leela convention centre  on January 29 while on his way to attend the Global  Education Meet (GEM).   The incident had attracted international attention forcing  even the CPM to  openly denounce the attack.

Mr  Sreenivasan, a former permanent representative of India to the United Nations office, Vienna,  was also the Ambassador to Austria and Slovenia. A 1967 IFS batch officer, he has served in the foreign service for 37 years.