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RSP picks Premachandran for Cabinet berth

Special Correspondent

He will resign his Rajya Sabha membership on Tuesday; likely to get Labour portfolio

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: N.K. Premachandran is RSP's nominee for Cabinet berth.

The RSP State executive, which met here on Sunday, decided to nominate party's Rajya Sabha member Premachandran, who would turn 46 on May 25, apparently in view of his young age and dynamism.

Party State secretariat member A.A. Aziz, who has been elected from the Eravipuram constituency by an impressive margin of 24,049 votes, will be the RSP Legislature party leader. Kovoor Kunjumon, who has been elected from the Kunnathur SC constituency by a margin of 22,573 votes, is the party whip.

In what had turned out to be a fierce battle between RSP siblings, Mr. Premachandran defeated Shibu Baby John, son of veteran RSP leader Baby John, by a margin of 1,786 votes in the Chavara constituency.

RSP to stake claim

Party State secretary T.J. Chandrachoodan told a news conference here that Mr. Premachandran would quit the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday, once his nomination to the Cabinet was approved by the Left Democratic Front (LDF) State committee. Mr. Premachandran's term would normally come to an end on June 30 and the RSP has decided to stake claim to the seat when the elections take place. The CPI(M) had given the seat to the RSP after hard bargaining. Given the kind of mandate that the CPI(M) has received, it is unlikely to heed the RSP demand a second time.

In the LDF Cabinet, which is expected to take office in a few days' time, the RSP is likely to get the Labour portfolio, but a final decision on this would have to wait till conclusion of the discussions now on in the CPI(M) on the question of portfolio allocation.

Mr. Premachandran, a lawyer by profession, entered active politics as a worker of the RSP-led Progressive Students' Union and rose to become the organisation's State president.

Currently, he is the national president of the RSP-led Revolutionary Youth Front (RYF). Hailing from Navayikkulam in Thiruvananthapuram district, he first tasted electoral triumph in the 1987 panchayat election and went on to beat former Union Minister S. Krishna Kumar in the Kollam Lok Sabha constituency in 1996 by a margin of 78,307 votes.

He was returned to the Lok Sabha in the 1998 election by a margin of 71,762 votes.

He was elected to the Rajya Sabha in 2000.

He has won in all the elections he has fought and has earned a name as an effective parliamentarian.

Currently, he is a member of the RSP national secretariat.

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