Thiruvananthapuram, Mar 10 (IANS): It's all happening for media baron-turned-politician M.V. Shreyams Kumar, now a member of the Upper House, and who heads the Loktantrik Janata Dal (LJD), an ally of the ruling Left Democratic Front.

He has been nominated by his party to contest the Kalpetta assembly seat, which he won twice, and lost in the 2016 assembly polls.

The LJD was formed by his father M.P. Veerendra Kumar, who was a sitting Rajya Sabha member when he passed away last year, and the seat was given by the CPI-M to his son Shreyams Kumar.

The veteran Veerendra Kumar, of Janata Dal (U) then, remained part of the LDF till 2009, but shifted to the Congress-led UDF after he was denied his sitting Lok Sabha seat of Kozhikode.

Veerendra Kumar's party nominee was given a Cabinet post when the Oommen Chandy government assumed office in 2011.

But he however lost the 2014 Lok Sabha polls by over one lakh votes and since then he was unhappy with the UDF. However, the UDF offered him a Rajya Sabha seat in 2016.

When he had decided to quit the UDF, he put in his resignation from the Upper House in December 2017.

Later V. Kumar rejoined the CPI-M led Left Democratic Front, which allowed him to contest for the Rajya Sabha and he became a member again in 2018.

"The party was adamant that he (Shreyams Kumar)should contest the Kalpetta seat as he presently is in the Rajya Sabha only till next year as his term ends then, as he was continuing the term of Veerendra Kumar," said Varghese George, a senior leader of the LJD while speaking to the media at Kozhikode.

George also announced the candidature of K.P. Mohan and M. Chandran for the remaining two seats which their party was given.

The LJD was treated with disdain by the CPI-M, as it was given just three seats, while it was demanding seven seats. When asked about this George said the three seats they have been given are strong sitting seats of the Left.