As was widely expected, Pinarayi Vijayan has been picked for the fifth time in a row to head the Communist Party of India (Marxist) in Kerala.
Mr. Vijayan was re-elected to the post unanimously by the first meeting of the reconstituted State committee here on Friday. Mr. Vijayan's name was proposed for the post by veteran leader V.S. Achuthanandan and seconded by party State secretariat member T. Sivadasa Menon. The conference also elected an 85-member State committee, leaving one vacancy to be filled later. The conference concluded with a massive red volunteer march that draped the Kerala capital in a sea of red.
He turns 68 next month
Mr. Vijayan, who would turn 68 next month, was first elected to the post on September 25, 1998 following the death of the incumbent Chadayan Govindan after making a mark as an efficient Power Minister in the E.K. Nayanar Cabinet. He was re-elected State secretary in 2002 at the Kannur State conference, in 2005 at the Malappuram conference, and again in 2008 at the Kottayam State conference.
There are 12 new faces in the reconstituted CPI(M) State committee. They are DYFI State secretary T.V. Rajesh, MLA, James Mathew, MLA, A. Pradeep Kumar, MLA, party's Malappuram district secretary P.P. Vasudevan, Palakkad district secretary C.K. Rajendran, Thrissur district secretary A.C. Moideen, Alappuzha district secretary C.B. Chandrababu, Ernakulam district secretariat member C.N. Mohanan, former MLA N.R. Balan, NGO Union leader K.P. Mary, SFI national president P.K. Biju, and Koliyakkode N. Krishnan Nair, MLA.
Those dropped
Five members of the outgoing State committee had died during the inter-conference period. Two members, C.K.P. Padmanabhan and P. Sasi, had been expelled and Gopi Kottamurickal, former Ernakulam district secretary, removed from the committee.
The new committee has been constituted dropping five persons owing to age and infirmity. They are K.K. Mamakkutty, Sarojini Balanandan, C.O. Poulose, M. Kelappan, and P.R. Rajan. One position has been left vacant.
The conference also elected a five-member State Control Commission headed by T. Krishnan and having M.T. Joseph, E. Kasim, Girija Surendran, and M.M. Varghese as its members and a 175-member delegation for the 20th Party Congress being held in Kozhikode in April..
