THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Senior CPM leader and party central committee member A Vijayaraghavan will be the new LDF convener. The CPM state secretariat, which met here on Friday, took the call as incumbent Vaikom Viswan expressed his wish to step down citing health reasons. The decision was formally announced by Vaikom Viswan on Friday.
A former Parliament member, Vijayaraghavan has been active in the state politics for some time now. Of late, he was working with the party central secretariat. Though there were speculations that he could make it to the politburo at the recent party Congress in Hyderabad, no such decision was taken.A good orator, Vijayaraghavan has been the party’s major campaigner during recent elections. The former Rajya Sabha MP had also represented Palakkad in the Lok Sabha. Though he had contested from Kozhikode, he lost to Congress candidate M K Raghavan.
The Left Front will take a collective decision on LDF expansion, said Vijayaraghavan. Responding to the media after being elected as convener, he said the Left Front’s approach has special significance in the current political scenario in the country, especially in the state.He also pointed out that the Left Front expansion and effective governance are of importance. There are no disputes with the CPI, other than the usual differences of opinion. Taking forward the efforts to expand the Left Front’s acceptance among the people would be a major task, he said.It was about 12 years ago that Vaikom Viswan took over as the convener when Paloli Mohammedkutty stepped down. Recently, he expressed his wish to step down due to health issues.
CPM, CPI to share RS seats
The CPM and CPI will share LDF’s two Rajya Sabha seats. There are indications that the CPM has zeroed in on Cherian Philip as its candidate. In all likelihood, party central secretariat member Binoy Viswam could be the CPI choice.
The LDF meet on Friday took a call on seat sharing between the two major parties. Though other Left allies also raised claim for the seats, the demand will be considered later.Of the three RS seats falling vacant from Kerala, the LDF will get two, while the remaining will go to UDF. The three seats are falling vacant as the tenure of P J Kurien of Congress, C P Narayanan of CPM and Joy Abraham of Kerala Congress coming to an end. The notification will be issued on June 4 while polls will be on June 21. Though the CPM has considered a few names, it’s reliably learnt that it has finally decided on Philip. The CPI state executive on June 5 will take a final call on its candidate.