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The CPM’s Kerala unit has elected Politburo member Kodiyeri Balakrishnan as state secretary for a third consecutive term, and brought in new faces into its state committee and state secretariat following a central committee decision that fixed an age limit of 75 for leadership roles.
The Marxist party decided during last year’s Assembly elections not to field those who had been a legislator for two consecutive terms, and Pinarayi Vijayan has an all-new team of ministers in his second term as chief minister.
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In the new 17-member state secretariat, announced at the party’s state conference on Friday, the only leader aged above 75 is Vijayan. Among the eight new members is the public works minister and Vijayan’s son-in-law, P A Mohammed Riyas, who is emerging as the CPM’s Muslim face in the state.
After getting elected as state secretary, Balakrishnan told reporters that his name for the post was suggested by Vijayan. “All those who are above the age of 75 have been dropped from the state committee and the secretariat. They will be given other responsibilities,” he said.
Former MP P K Biju, former MLA M Swaraj and Vijayan’s political secretary, Puthalath Dinesan, are among the other young faces in the party’s top decision-making body in the state. While central committee members Thomas Isaac, A K Balan, P K Sreemathi and E P Jayarajan have also figured in the state secretariat, another central committee member, Elamaram Kareem, was dropped from the state body. Riyas and Kareem, a Rajya Sabha member, both hail from Kozhikode district.
The 88-member state committee has 16 new faces including DYFI leader A A Rahim and SFI leader V P Sanu. Prominent leader P Sasi, who had been suspended from the party on charges of sexual misconduct, returned to the state committee.
Rajya Sabha member John Brittas was made an invitee at the committee, while a few others dropped for crossing the age limit were made special invitees. Former chief minister V S Achuthanandan, who has retired from active politics due to ill health, was retained as a special invitee. The state committee has 13 female members, three of them new entrants.
Balakrishnan sought to justify P Sasi’s inclusion in the state committee saying that “the CPM would encourage those who rectify their mistakes. Sasi faced action for violating party discipline. There is nothing wrong in the decision to bring him back to the state committee,’’ he said.
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