Thiruvananthapuram, March 23: Former Kerala minister R. Balakrishna Pillai, in jail on graft charges, Wednesday announced he will not contest from Kottarakara assembly constituency in the April 13 elections.
He conveyed the decision to Congress leader Oommen Chandy and United Democratic Front (UDF )convenor P.P. Thankachen who visited him in the jail. Pillai had Tuesday said he will be in the poll fray.
“Even though he has got legal advice that there is no legal bar on him contesting, he has come to a decision that he will not. His representative N.N. Murali will be the UDF candidate from Kottarakara,” Chandy told reporters.
Pillai is the chairman of Kerala Congress (B) and his son K.B. Ganesh Kumar is a legislator. Pillai was given a one-year jail term last month by the Supreme Court in a corruption case.
Pillai, 76, has been an eight-time legislator, of which seven times he has represented Kottarakara in Kollam district.
In 1985 reports came that the Idamalayar dam tunnel had developed cracks and the then Left Front government appointed high court judge K. Sukumaran to probe it.
In 1999, the special court charged Pillai and others and sentenced him to a five-year jail term.
The Kerala High Court exonerated Pillai in 2004, but the apex court reversed the acquittal order.
—-PTI