The State CPI(M) has inducted two new faces into its State secretariat: Kollam district secretary K.N. Balagopal and his Ernakulam counterpart P. Rajeev.
The CPI(M) State committee, which met here on Wednesday, decided to expand the strength of the committee from 15 to 16 to bring in the two young leaders. The reconstitution was effected without dropping any of the incumbent members.
Mr. Balagopal had risen through the ranks of the Students Federation of India (SFI) and the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) and had won all-round praise for his performance as a member of the Rajya Sabha. Mr. Rajeev, who too had come up through the student and youth movement, had made a mark as Rajya Sabha member of the CPI(M) from 2009 to 2015. He had earlier served as Resident Editor of Deshabhimani , the party’s official organ in Kerala.
Party Polit Bureau members S. Ramachandran Pillai and M.A. Baby attended the State committee meeting that elected the members of the reconstituted State secretariat. The strength of the secretariat was enhanced to reflect the increase in party membership. The outgoing secretariat had one vacancy, resulting from the death of V.V. Dakshinamoorthy.
The members of the reconstituted CPI(M) State secretariat are Pinarayi Vijayan, Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, P. Karunakaran, P.K. Sreemathy, E.P. Jayarajan, T.M. Thomas Isaac, Elamaram Kareem, A.K. Balan, M.V. Govindan, Baby John, Anathalavattom Anandan, T.P. Ramakrishnan, M.M. Mani, K.J. Thomas, K.N. Balagopal and P. Rajeev.
With the reconstitution, the CPI(M) secretariat has become more evenly balanced with Kollam and Ernakulam, important districts for the party in Kerala, getting representation in it. Although Kannur district secretary P. Jayarajan’s name had also been mentioned as one of the probables to enter the secretariat, that did not happen, probably on account of the heavy presence of leaders from the district in the secretariat.
Thrissur district secretary K. Radhakrishnan, who had been elected to the party Central committee at the CPI(M) 22nd Party Congress in Hyderbad, would become a member of the State secretariat. With his election to the Central committee and the election of Mr. Balagopal and Mr. Rajeev to the State secretariat, the party would have to find replacements for them in the three districts.
