COIMBATORE: R Mutharasan was elected the CPI State secretary at the party’s 23rd State conference here on Saturday.
Sources said 125 EC members of the state voted in the secret ballot held to elect the new secretary. Mutharasan’s rival was C Mahendran, the party’s deputy secretary. He replaces D Pandian, who has been the secretary for last nine years.
A native of Tiruvarur, Mutharasan has been in the CPI since 1961 and been the general secretary of the Tamil Nadu Agricultural Workers Union for 17 years.
Speaking at a public meeting later in the evening, Mutharasan said the party had chosen a common man from an agriculture family to lead it and sought the cooperation of all partymen.