Adoor, Friday, January 30, 2009: KPCC President Ramesh Chennithala announced that he is not in the race for Rajya Sabha candidature this time. Ramesh Chennithala speaking at a youth congress camp at Adoor in Alappuzha. Ramesh Chennithala, Vayalar ravi and K Karunakaran were front runners for the Rajya Sabha seat from the state.
Ramesh Chennithala speaking at a youth congress camp at Adoor in Alappuzha said, in the wake of senior leaders showing keen interest for contesting the seat he is withdrawing his name from the list.

From the beginning, Chennithala’s name had figured prominently for the lone Rajya Sabha seat the Congress could win out of the three Rajya Sabha vacancies from the state.
Union Minister for NRI affairs Vayalar Ravi , former KPCC president Thennala Balakrishna Pillai and CITU leader K Chandran Pillai are the three who will retire next month. Ravi had earlier expressed his wish to contest for the Lok Sabha, making Chennithala’s chances brighter.
However, the situation took an unexpected turn with K Karunakaran dashing to Delhi a couple of days back and staking claim for the seat on the ground that when he left the Congress a few years back, he had resigned from the Upper House of Parliament before the term was completed.
This compelled party’s state unit to leave the decision to the AICC president without even submitting a list of probable candidates, which is the normal practice.