Young Congress leader M Liju has emerged to be the frontrunner for the candidature for the lone seat the party is certain to win in the March 31 Rajya Sabha election from Kerala.

State Congress chief K Sudhakaran on Wednesday confirmed that Liju was among those being considered for the Rajya Sabha seat. He was speaking to media after a meeting with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi. Incidentally, Liju also met Gandhi on Wednesday, though he said the meeting had nothing to do with the Rajya Sabha polls.

Sudhakaran said the state unit has asked the central leadership to consider a youth for the seat. “The high command will take a decision within two days,” he said.

Liju, the former Alappuzha District Congress Committee president, said he met Gandhi as per a prior appointment he had sought. “It had been long since I had a meeting with Rahul Gandhi. We discussed only some organisational matters. All other news reports are baseless,” Liju told media.

Seasoned politicians like K V Thomas and M M Hassan who are keen to get the nomination are unlikely to be considered even though the former has made a strong pitch for himself after coming down to Delhi to meet party higher-ups last week.

Party sources claimed M Liju and Satheeshan Pacheni are front-runners to get the party ticket for the Rajya Sabha poll. VT Balram, who is the vice-president of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee, is also in the reckoning.

Incidentally, all the above-mentioned probables had lost their respective contests in the last Kerala Legislative Assembly election.

Balram is a former legislator who represented the Thrithala constituency twice.

The elections for three Upper House seats in the Parliament that are set to be vacant from Kerala will be held on March 31. The CPM and its ally Communist Party of India (CPI) would contest two of the three seats in the Rajya Sabha polls. The candidates of both the parties are certain to win the two seats considering the strength of the Left Democratic Front (LDF) in the Kerala Legislative Assembly. AA Rahim and P Santosh Kumar are the candidates of the CPM and CPI.

The Congress-led opposition United Democratic Front (UDF) is capable of retaining the lone seat which is set to be vacated by Congress leader AK Antony.

UDF constituent Communist Marxist Party (CMP) reportedly wants its general secretary CP John to contest the poll.