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Kodiyeri Balakrishnan is new CPI-M Kerala secretary
Alappuzha (Kerala), Feb 23
Senior politburo
member Kodiyeri Balakrishnan was Monday elected the new secretary of the
Kerala unit of the CPI-M succeeding Pinarayi Vijayan.
The 21st
state party conference of the CPI-M also elected an 88-member state
committee, Balakrishnan told reporters after his unanimous election.
"The
election was unanimous and there was no difference of opinion. The
conference also selected a 175-member delegation which will represent
Kerala at the upcoming party congress to be held in April at
Visakhapatanam," said the new state secretary.
The 61-year-old politburo member of the party rose to this level working up the ladder after beginning as a student activist.
A
five-time legislator from Tellicherry in Kannur district, Balakrishnan
-- compared to his predecessor Pinarayi Vijayan -- is a man known for
sporting a smile always and has always been one who freely mingles with
everyone.
The new 88-member state committee has 15 new faces and
most of them come from the young and middle-aged generations of the
party.
"Achuthanandan should have attended today's meeting and
he could have aired all his grievances in the party meeting. Since he is
already a central committee member of the party he can always attend
the state committee meeting of the party, even though he was not elected
to the state committee today," said Balakrishnan, when asked about the
absence of the 91-year-old veteran from the state committee.
He
said the politburo will look into the issues raised by Achuthanandan
who, he said, has been one leader in the CPI-M who has always been given
a lot of consideration.
"Since ours is a party that will not
entertain any sort of bargaining, Achuthanandan was spoken to by our
general secretary Prakash Karat who requested him to attend the
conference, but he is yet to do so. For a party like ours, we do give a
lot of importance to our party constitution," said Balakrishnan when
reporters persisted with their queries about the manner in which
Achuthanandan behaved by boycotting the party conference on Saturday.
Achuthanandan has come out with a press release saying he will not take part in Monday's meeting.