CPI(M) meet concludes, no major leadership changes

The CPI(M) extended state committee meeting in Kozhikode concluded on Tuesday by effecting a nominal organisational rejig and steering clear of replacing its top leadership.

The meeting, attended by over 300 of the top leaders of the state unit and invitees from the central leadership, was envisaged to find new ways to strengthen the organisation, fix lapses and infuse energy into its ranks, four months after suffering a drubbing in the Assembly polls. The CPI(M) lost power in the state after a decade and saw its numbers in the Assembly dwindle from 62 to 26.

CPI(M) state secretary MV Govindan announced the organisational changes approved at the meeting in Kozhikode. The state secretariat, highest body of the party at the state level, saw the induction of three prominent leaders -- P Jayarajan from Kannur, MB Rajesh from Palakkad and V Sivankutty from Thiruvananthapuram districts. While Jayarajan is considered a party strongman in Kannur with wide clout among the cadre, Rajesh and Sivankutty served as local self-government and general education ministers respectively in the second Pinarayi Vijayan cabinet. Rajya Sabha MPJohn Brittas will also work in close conjunction with the state secretariat.

At the same time, LDF convenor TP Ramakrishnan and former finance minister TM Thomas Isaac found themselves out of the secretariat. Notably, in the days leading to the conference, Isaac had publicly spoken about the need for the party leadership to listen to the grievances of the cadre and the public, instead of vice versa.

The state committee of the party also saw notable inductions, especially of youth and women. Nine people were selected as permanent invitees -- Adarsh M Sajeev, national president of SFI, Jaik C Thomas, national DYFI leader, PS Sanjeev, state SFI secretary, M Sivaprasad, state SFI president, N Sukanya, MLA OS Ambika, Subaida Ishaque, DYFI state secretary M Vijin and writer Prabha Varma.

At the same time, Govindan did not disclose the specific organisational lapses discovered during internal reviews or the ways in which the party would rectify them in the months ahead. It is learnt that there was intense debate on the party’s shortcomings at the meeting in Kozhikode, especially over the stunning defeats in its strongholds of Payyanur and Taliparamba. In effect, the CPI(M) shied away from making any major changes in the top echelons of the leadership at the state level.

The party, at the Kozhikode conference, adopted three resolutions. In one resolution, it vowed to legally and politically fight against the “political witch-hunt” being conducted by the BJP-led Union government through central agencies like the Enforcement Directorate against Pinarayi Vijayan and MLA PA Mohammed Riyas. The reference is to the ED probing allegations of money laundering in the CMRL - Exalogic case involving the defunct firm of Veena T, daughter of Vijayan.

In the second resolution, the CPI(M) exhorted its cadres to unite against the “anti-people” policies of the UDF government. It accused the UDF of joining hands with communal forces and destroying the state’s secular heritage. In the third resolution, it called for public protests against the “corporate-Hindutva” policies of the Union government and soaring unemployment.