Communist Party of India state council begins today

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The two-day state council of CPI to elect the new state secretary will begin here on Monday. The meeting assumes significance as it would elect the successor of late C K Chandrappan.
AITUC leader Kanam Rajendran is the front runner for the post when former food and civil supplies minister C Divakaran has also emerged as a possible contender for the post.
Though Panniyan Ravindran was tipped for the post earlier, he has been now elevated to the national secretariat.
However, party sources said that if the election of state secretary is heading for a fight between the two groups supporting Rajendran and Divakaran, then Panniyan Raveednran could still emerge as a neutral candidate for the post.
Kanam Rajendran who is the senior most state secretariat member of the party has the experience of working with the CPI stalwarts like M N Gowindan Nair, C Achuthamenon, P K Vasudevan nair and N E Balaram.
However, the group supporting K E Ismail who has the backing of the CPM is opposing the candidature of Rajendran.
Apart from the state secretary, the council will also be electing the new assistant secretaries, 31-member state executive and a nine-member state secretariat.
For the two -day meeting, the newly-elected CPI general secretary Sudhakar Reddy reached the state capital on Sunday.
"The new state secretary of the party will be elected tomorrow," said Reddy while speaking to reporters at the airport soon after his arrival here. He said that the prime aim of the CPI would be to strengthen the LDF in Kerala and a broad alliance of Left parties at the Centre.