THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The political journey of Kanam Rajendran, who got re-elected the CPI state secretary for the third consecutive term on Monday, began in 1969 at the young age of 19. He was elected the youngest AIYF state secretary when former CPI state secretary C K Chandrappan was its national president. During that period, Kaniyapuram Ramachandran was the AIYF state president.
After two years, he was elected the CPI state council member. At age of 25, Kanam became the CPI state secretariat member in 1975. He has been the CPI state council member for the past 51 years. He had also served as the CPI Kottayam district secretary twice. In 2015, Kanam became the party state secretary and central secretariat member. He also proved his mettle as a parliamentarian after he was elected to the Kerala Assembly in 1982 and 1987.
He was also actively involved in CPI-led trade union AITUC’s activities. He worked with CPI stalwarts such as P Balachandra Menon, T V Thomas, P Bhaskaran, Kallat Krishnan and K P Prabhakaran.