THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Senior CPM leader and Varakala MLA V Joy has been elected as party district secretary. The change of guard was necessitated after incumbent Anavoor Nagappan was inducted into the party state secretariat last March. Though elected as secretary, Joy is unlikely to resign as MLA.
The decision to bring Joy to the party leadership was taken during a meeting of the state committee members from the district, at AKG Centre on Thursday. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, state secretary M V Govindan and other state committee members attended the meeting. At the meeting, the state leadership suggested Joy as the new district secretary. Later at the party district committee meet, senior leader Kadakampally Surendran proposed Joy’s name, which was backed by B P Murali.
A two-time MLA, Joy is now party state committee member. In 2016 he won from Varkala defeating Varkala Kahar of Congress and in 2021 he won against BRM Shafeer of Congress.