He also served as the governor of Mizoram from 2019 to 2021, he was also the Bharatiya Janata Party president of Kerala state from 2003 to 2006 and again from 2018 to 2019.

He has been conferred with honorary doctorate degree by ASBM University, Bhubaneswar on 16 September 2023 in the hands of Hon'ble 14th President of India Shri Ram Nath Kovind.

Pillai started his political career through the ABVP, the student wing of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

[1] Under his leadership, in 2004, the NDA won two MP seats from Kerala (P. C. Thomas, IFDP) and Lakshadweep (P. Pookunhi Koya, JDU).

[13] His son Arjun Sreedhar is a lawyer at the High Court of Kerala and started the profession as Junior to his father.