Congress to field Karthikeyan's son in Kerala bypoll

After hectic parleys at all levels in the Congress in Kerala, the party has decided to field K.S. Sabarinathan for the June 27th by-election for Aruvikara assembly constituency in the capital district. He is the younger son of late assembly speaker G. Karthikeyan, whose death in March this year necessitated the bypoll.

An engineer by profession and holding an MBA degree, Sabarinathan, 31, is presently working as manager, Human Resource, Tata Trust, Mumbai.

The first priority among party leaders though was M.T. Sulekha, the widow of Karthikeyan, state party chief V.M. Sudheeran told reporters at Congress headquarters here on Saturday.

"But she expressed her inability to contest. Incidentally, Rahul Gandhi (when he came to see Karthikeyan when he was unwell) was also sounded by Karthikeyan about Sabarinathan's interest in politics. In fact, while doing his engineering course, Sabarinathan had contested college union elections as Congress student wing candidate and hence he is not new to politics," said Sudheeran.

"I know the constituency very well and what happens is that at times, things which one never even dreams of become a reality. My father has been nurturing this constituency for the past 24 years and has done numerous development works.

"Today, the victory of Congress-led UDF candidate is a necessity and it will enable me to complete projects that my father started," Sabarinathan told reporters soon after his name was announced.

CPI-M candidate and former speaker and minister M. Vijayakumar has already started his campaign.

The BJP is expected to name its candidate on Sunday.