THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Senior CPM leader Elamaram Kareem is all set to enter Rajya Sabha from Kerala. Even as the Rajya Sabha seat fiasco has been creating ripples within the United Democratic Front, the ruling Left Democratic Front finalised its two candidates without any major issue.
The CPM state secretariat which met here on Friday finalised party Central Committee member and CITU state secretary Elamaram Kareem as party's Rajya Sabha candidate from the state. Kareem, a senior trade unionist from the state, has served as Industries Minister during the previous LDF government in Kerala from 2006-11.
Of the two Rajya Sabha seats that the Left front can win from Kerala, the CPM and the CPI got one each. Last week, the CPI finalised its central secretariat member Binoy Viswam as party candidate. The elections to the Rajya Sabha seats will be held on June 21.
Though a couple of names were under consideration for CPM's RS candidate, the party wanted a senior leader to go considering CPM's poor representation in the Parliament. Going by the two-tenure norm for RS candidates, many other senior leaders were out of consideration. That's who the party finally zeroed in on the trade union leader from the state.