Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 14 More than the Lok Sabha polls next year, Kerala's ruling CPI-M will face a tough challenge when three Rajya Sabha vacancies will arise in the state on July 1.
Kerala has 20 Lok Sabha and nine Rajya Sabha seats.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the Congress-led UDF won 19 seats and the CPI-M-led LDF just one. But with the Kerala Congress-M, led by its Rajya Sabha member Jose K.Mani, crossing over to the Left Democratic Front (LDF) ahead of the 2021 Assembly polls, the LDF technically has two seats now as it has one member in the Lok Sabha too.
All the three seats that are falling vacant in the Rajya Sabha are those held by the Left and include one seat each for the CPI-M, the CPI and Kerala Cong-M.
When the polls to these three seats takes place, one seat will be won by the Congress-led UDF and that means one of the three LDF members will have to forfeit its seat, or rather either the CPI or the KC-M will be the one to be left out.
A political observer said its here that the going will get tough for the CPI-M.
"With the KC-M having only one Lok Sabha seat, their leader Mani who is presently in the Upper House of Parliament, will either stake a claim for a second Lok Sabha seat or one more term in the Rajya Sabha. Also, the CPI which has no representation from Kerala in the Lok Sabha, will bargain hard for their Rajya Sabha seat besides sticking to their four seats to contest in the Lok Sabha polls. Hence the CPI-M will have to burn the midnight oil to find an amicable settlement among its allies," the observer said.
For a smooth campaign for the LDF in the Lok Sabha polls, they will have to iron out all issues quickly for which talks have already commenced. What will cause fresh hiccups is the staking of claim by the new president of RJD's Kerala unit- M.V. Shreyams Kumar, who recently merged his LJD with Lalu Prasad Yadav's party, he added.
The erstwhile LJD is an ally of the LDF and has one legislator and Kumar, who had a brief term in the Upper house, has already indicated that their party will seek a Lok Sabha seat and also eye a Rajya Sabha nomination.
These contending claims will cause quite a bit of tension for the CPI-M, which will have to use all its skills to reach a solution that placates all its allies.
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