Congress High Command nominee Srinivasan Krishnan will perform better in Rajya Sabha than CPM’s A A Rahim, said political observer Advocate A Jayashankar. ‘I know Srinivasan personally. He is fluent in both English and Hindi’, he said.

Advocate Jayashankar’s words:

‘I know Srinivasan very well. I have known him for a very long time. He will definitely shine if he goes to the Rajya Sabha. He is fluent in both English and Hindi. Going to parliament is not for creating any agitation, is it? People like him will perform better than Rahim in the Rajya Sabha, let me write it down.’

There is visible opposition within the Congress in Kerala against considering Srinivasan Krishnan, a native of Thrissur and the acting AICC secretary in Telangana. However, they are unable to reject him as it is a high command directive.

KPCC President K Sudhakaran, currently in Delhi, had suggested former Alappuzha DCC President M Liju’s name for the candidature. In a meeting with Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday, Sudhakaran had demanded that Liju be made the Raja Sabha candidate. Liju was also present in the meeting. The high command had directed to submit the name of the candidates as a panel. The announcement is likely to be made on Thursday or Friday. The last date to submit the nomination is March 21.

The high command had suggested Srinivasan’s name as the candidate from Chalakudy constituency in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. However, the move had to be abandoned due to huge protests. Srinivasan Krishnan, a 57-year-old, is a member of Priyanka Gandhi’s team and maintains close relationships with AICC leaders. He is a former employee of the Indian Information service (IIS) and was an officer on special duty with K Karunakaran for about 10 years. Later, he became close with the Congress leadership. He was also the business partner of Priyanka’s husband and business tycoon Robert Vadra.

Meantime, the CPM has decided to field DYFI All India President A A Rahim (40) as their Rajya Sabha candidate. Rahim, who is also a member of the CPM State Committee, was given the candidature considering youth representation. The decision was taken at the available secretariat meeting attended by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.