76-year-old M. Bhaskaran, former Kozhikode Mayor, has not found a place in the new 10-member Kozhikode district secretariat of the CPI(M).
A meeting of the CPI(M) district committee held here on Tuesday elected the new members to the secretariat. They are P. Mohanan, district secretary, P. Viswan, C. Bhaskaran, K.P. Kunhammed Kutty, M. Mehaboob, George M. Thomas, T.P. Dasan, V.P. Kunhikrishnan, K. Kunhammed and Mambetta Sreedharan.
CPI(M) State secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan and party Central Committee member Elamaram Karim were present at the meeting. The reason for the exclusion of Mr. Bhaskaran was unknown. However, many believe that he had become unfavourable to the party leadership and that was recently reflected in his replacement as the president of Calicut Town Cooperative Bank, which is controlled by the CPI (M).
However, he would remain a member of the 43-member district committee which was elected at the three-day district conference held at Koyilandy in January. He is also the vice-president of the CITU district committee.
Mr. Bhaskaran joined CPI(M) in 1964 and became a full-time activist in 1974. He served in the advertisement section of Deshabhimani , a party organ, for over 30 years till 1997. He has also been working as the chairman of the Kozhikode District Cooperative Hospital at Eranhipalam for the past three years.
Mr. Bhaskaran along with Mr. Mohanan was in the race for the post of the district secretary. However, the party conference unanimously re-elected Mr. Mohanan. His role in leading the party in terms of electoral gains in the Assembly polls and local body polls gave him an edge.
