KOTTAYAM:The state Conference of the Communist Party of India (CPI) concluded with the unanimous election of a new state secretary, Kanam Rajendran, who will lead the party for the next three years. The conference also elected a 89-member state council and a nine-member control commission.
It was general secretary S Sudhakar Reddy who proposed the name of Rajendran, but the sailing was not smooth for him in the state council because of a sustained campaign in favour of another national executive member K E Ismail. At one stage the delegates felt that they would have to witness a contest for the first time in the history of the CPI in Kerala as the talks the state executive had with the national secretariat members Sudhakar Reddy, Gurudas Das Gupta, D Raja and Annnie Raja got prolonged.
There was speculation that the Ismail faction may press for a contest but the scenario was avoided by the intervention of the national leadership which made it clear that the party wanted Kanam in a lead role for the next three years. A leader of his stature, with rich Communist tradition and expertise on the administrative and the trade union front was needed to withstand the onslaught by the CPM, they reportedly said. At this stage Ismail offered not to stake a claim for the post, thereby facilitating unanimous election of the new secretary.
Later, Kanam Rajendran told mediapersons that reports that there was a contest in the offing for the post of secretary were a media creation. “Ours is a democratic party and in the party forum anyone can air opinion without fear. Those who express opinions will not be suppressed. The reports of factional feud are creation of certain news channels,” he said.
While answering a query whether his elevation was a belated one, Kanam said he entered the state council of the party at a tender age of 20 in 1970.
“Five years later, in 1975 I became a state secretariat member. I got the opportunity to work with legendary leaders like M N Govindan Nair, N E Balaram, C Achutha Menon and T V Thomas in the secretariat. You will agree that there is no point in figuratively saying that it is a ‘belated advent of spring’ he said.