The Communist Party of India (CPI) State executive committee has been reconstituted with the faction led by newly-elected State unit secretary Kanam Rajendran gaining almost total control of the committee.
Former State unit secretary Pannian Ravindran and former State assistant secretary K.E. Ismail are not among the new executive committee members. However, they would be able to attend the executive committee meetings in their capacity as members of the CPI national executive.
The CPI State conference held in Kottayam had seen Mr. Rajendran and Mr. Ismail almost coming to a showdown for the post of State secretary.
However, Mr. Ismail backed out at the last minute when the party Central leadership threw its weight behind Mr. Rajendran.
Achuthan dropped
Rajya Sabha member M.P. Achuthan and young leaders V.P. Unnikrishnan and P.S. Supal too have been dropped from the executive committee. The two had proposed Mr. Ismail for the State secretary’s post.
Former Minister C. Divakaran, who had been removed from the State executive following the controversy over the choice of candidate for the Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha in the last elections, has returned to the committee.
The State council of the party, which elected the new State executive committee on the opening day of its two-day meeting here on Friday, elected K. Prakash Babu and Sathyan Mokeri as new State assistant secretaries. E. Chandrasekharan, MLA, is the new treasurer.
The size of the executive has been reduced and the State council has decided to dispense with the party State secretariat, which had come under fire following the candidate selection row in Thiruvananthapuram.
Members of the reconstituted State executive committee are Kanam Rajendran, K. Prakash Babu, C.N. Chandran, C. Divakaran, E. Chandrasekharan, Sathyan Mokeri, V. Chamunni, C.N. Jayadevan, K.P. Rajendran, V.S. Sunil Kumar, K. Rajan, Kamala Sadanandan, C.A. Kurian, T. Purushothaman, P.K. Krishnan, K.R. Chandramohanan, Mullakkara Ratnakaran, J. Chinchurani, P. Prasad, V.B. Binu, and N. Rajan.
