THIRUVANATHAPURAM: If luck has a synonym in Kerala politics, it is V. Surendran Pillai. The 54-year-old soft-spoken, handsome legislator representing Thiruvananthapuram West constituency will now be the nominee of Kerala Congress(T) in the V S Achuthanandan cabinet.
Pillai, who resisted every temptation including the personal invite of K M Mani to join the unified Kerala Congress, has been rewarded for his brave decision after an anxious wait of three months. That too, at a time when almost everyone has written off Pillai and ruled that his decision to ditch Joseph had been ill-timed.
“Thank God, it was not through a lucky draw,’’ was the first comment made by Pillai after knowing the LDF decision. He was referring to the infamous draw held inside a hotel room in 2007 to choose between Mons Joseph and himself as the successor of T U Kuruvila. He needs to thank God for not winning that draw. Otherwise, he would have faced an unceremonious exit midway to give the chair back to his then boss P J Joseph. Surprises are not new to Surendran Pillai’s political career. In 1984 when the then Punalur MLA Sam Oommen died, Pillai was handpicked by Kerala Congress as its candidate for the byelection. He defeated CPI leader P K Sreenivasan to become an MLA for the first time. His performance during the 3-year tenure helped Pillai to carve out a place for him in the district leadership of Kerala Congress.
Luck had played a larger role than his 13233 majority to get Surendran Pillai in in the 12th Kerala Assembly. Pillai got a last- minute call to contest from Thiruvananthapuram West as his party couldn’t find an apt replacement locally for Antony Raju who had been caught in a controversy.
