The Left Democratic Front in Kerala has decided to allow one more Rajya Sabha seat in Kerala to the CPI, while the CPM will retain the other one that becomes vacant.
CPI state council member and former national general secretary of AIYF P Santosh Kumar will be CPI's nominee.
Three Rajya Sabha seats from Kerala are becoming vacant as the terms of Congress senior leader A K Antony, CPM's K Somaprasad and M V Shreyams Kumar of Loktantrik Janata Dal (LJD) are ending.
While the CPM would retain the seat of Somaprasad, the seat being vacated by Shreyam's Kumar is being given to the CPI, which is the second-largest party in the LDF now. LJD and a couple of other coalition partners were also staking a claim for the seat.
The CPM was learnt to have decided to give the seat to the CPI as part of strengthening the Left-parties at the national level. The CPI currently has Rajya Sabha MP from Kerala, Benoy Viswam. It was after around 10 years that the CPI was getting two MPs in Rajya Sabha from Kerala.
Meanwhile, discussions in Congress to find a replacement for Antony is still on. Antony had already conveyed that he would not like to be re-nominated to the upper house. Even as many senior leaders are pushing for the seat, a demand to nominate a youngster was also coming up.
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