THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The state BJP leadership has initiated informal talks for selecting a candidate for the byelection in the Chengannur assembly seat after its former state president and the candidate in the 2016 election P.S. Sreedharan Pillai was made to state that he was not interested in fighting this time, too. The RSS state leadership is understood to have opposed the candidatures of Mr Pillai, who had come a close third after CPM and the Congress in the constituency in the last election. While party state president Kummanam Rajasekharan is the front-runner, the names of young leaders K. Surendran and Sobha Surendran are also doing the rounds.
His acceptance among the Christian community, which has a formidable presence in the constituency, is believed to have helped Mr Pillai score 29 per cent votes (against 4 per cent of the BJP candidate in the 2011 election) but it has not gone down very well with the RSS leadership, sources said. "His close proximity with the Panakkad Thangal family of the Muslim League has also backfired," said a top BJP leader. "Recently when he was supposed to have attended a programme organised by the BJP and RSS in the Middle East but he stayed away from it and instead attended a book release function belonging to the minorities." There was an allegation that it was Mr Pillai who sabotaged the Marad case, the leader said.
Another top BJP leader told DC that Mr Pillai is one of the top criminal lawyers in the State and may not be very keen to become a full time politician.
"There is pressure from various quarters that I should contest again from Chengannur," Mr Pilai told DC. "I have already made my mind clear before the party leadership and now the ball is in their court."
If it is not Mr Pillai, then the core committee, which meets on February 3 might opt for Mr Rajasekharan. "It is always good to field a Nair candidate in Chengannur," said another top party leader. "Both Mr Pillai and Mr Rajasekharan belong to the same caste."
