Dinesh Mani, who was unanimously elected Ernakulam district secretary of the CPI(M) here on Thursday in the presence of party secretary Pinarayi Vijayan, brings to his office political experience spanning nearly three decades. During the course of his political career he has worked with stalwarts like former district secretary A.P. Varkey.
Mr. Mani, with backing from the party high command, was tipped to become the party’s keyman in Ernakulam even before the district secretariat meet on Wednesday. District secretariat member C.V. Ouseph presided at the meeting in which Mr. Mani was elected.
Mr. Mani entered party politics in 1968 through the Kerala State Youth Federation (KSYF). Since then he has continued to gain stature in the party, first becoming its Ernakulam Town North committee secretary and later the area secretary of Kalamassery in 1972.
A member of the district secretariat and later the district committee, he was elected to the State committee in 1998 at the Palakkad State meet of the CPI(M).
Mr. Mani became the finance committee chairman of the district council of the CPI(M) in 1991 before being elected to the council of the Corporation of Cochin in 2000.
He was unanimously elected the mayor of the corporation and held office for five years. In 2006, he was elected to the Kerala Legislative Assembly from Palluruthy.
Mr. Vijayan told media persons that election of a new district secretary was needed because the outgoing secretary M.V. Govindan, who is also a State secretariat member, had too many tasks at hand. Mr. Govindan had taken over as the district secretary in June 2011. He was re-elected as the district secretary at the Paravoor district meet of the party in January 2012
Mr. Mani, born in 1950 at Chellanam, made a big impact on Kochi city by deciding to set up the Brahmapuram waste treatment plant. The contract for the treatment plant was signed during his term as mayor. His trade union experience goes back to the days of the establishment of the Cochin Shipyard here and he continues to be the president of the Hindalco Company Union.
