THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: CPM leader and former Attingal MP A Sampath will be the private secretary to SC/ST welfare and Devaswom Minister K Radhakrishnan. The CPM state secretariat that met here on Friday is learnt to have cleared Sampath’s appointment. Sampath who was defeated in the 2019 Lok Sabha poll was earlier appointed the state’s representative in New Delhi with an office in the Kerala House.
However, he returned to state within a few mon ths of appointment. The move of the CPM to assign him the role of private secretary to a minister handling comparatively minor departments raised many an eyebrows in political circles. It is learnt that Radhakrishan requested the service of Sampath and the latter was willing to accept the new role. “In CPM’s party hierarchy, Radhakrishnan is a central committee member and Sampath is Thiruvananthapuram district committee member,” said a CPM leader.