THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Singer M G Sreekumar, who of late has been a BJP fellow traveller, is the CPM’s choice as the chairman of Kerala Sangeeta Nataka Akademi. Director B Ranjith will be the new chairman of Kerala Chalachitra Academy. It is learnt that the state cabinet meeting held last week approved their appointments and the orders would be issued in a day or two.
The CPM state secretariat had earlier approved the nominations of Ranjith and Sreekumar along with the name of musician Jassie Gift, who was recently appointed the chairman of Kerala State Development Corporation for Christian Converts. MG Sreekumar campaigned for V Muraleedharan in the 2016 assembly poll. Sreekumar inaugurated the website and Facebook page of the candidate.
He showered praises on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and wished that Muraleedharan would win from the constituency. But CPM’s Kadakampally Surendran won the seat. Sreekumar will replace KPAC Lalitha who had been the chairperson of the akademi for the last five years. The selection of Sreekumar has surprised even the CPM cadre as, in the past, artists who had actively cooperated with the Left were picked for the position.
Director Ranjith was considered to be the LDF candidate in Kozhikode North constituency when the party sought a replacement for popular leader A Pradeep Kumar. However, he was not given the ticket as there were objections within the party. He will now replace Kamal as the new chairman of Chalachitra Academy. The order appointing Jassie Gift as the chairman of Development Corporation for Christian Converts was issued last week.