THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Despite drawing flak from Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan two days ago, the new CPM district committee has retained much of its core. Senior leader and state committee member Anavoor Nagappan has been re-elected as the CPM Thiruvananthapuram district secretary for a third term.
Education Minister V Sivankutty, who is a member of the state committee, was dropped from the district committee to make way for new faces. Prominent among the others dropped is former Attingal MP A Sampath who drew criticism within party circles for being inactive in party work.
The organisational report presented in the district conference too had criticised Sampath, who is now the private secretary to minister K Radhakrishnan. A few names that were doing the rounds -- including MLAs G Stephen and VK Prasanth, in addition to Mayor Arya Rajendran -- failed to make it to the district committee.
The CPM district conference that concluded at Parassala on Sunday elected a 46-member district committee, including three youngsters and five women. While 10 were dropped, nine fresh faces have been inducted.
Notable among the new inclusions are SFI state president VA Vineesh, DYFI state leader and State Child Welfare Council general secretary Shiju Khan JS, who recently courted controversy following his role in the adoption row, and former secretary of the Child Welfare Council, SP Deepak, who faced disciplinary action after a controversial remark on people eating mud due to hunger.
Other new faces in the committee are DYFI district secretary KP Pramosh, district panchayat vice-president Shylaja Beegum, Karshaka Sangham national leader SK Preeja, Vellarada area secretary D K Sasi, Nedumangad area secretary R Jayadevan and Mahila Association leader V Ambily. Shiju, Pramosh and Vineesh are below 40 years.
The other day, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had expressed unhappiness over the way the party handled the adoption row involving Shiju. Similarly, Deepak was earlier demoted from area committee.
The five women in the new panel are S Pushpalatha, MG Meenambika, V Ambily, Shylaja Beegum and SK Preeja. Noted poet and veteran leader Pirappancode Murali, who was once the face of the VS Achuthanandan faction in the capital district, is among those dropped from the panel.
Murali, reportedly due to resentment against the official leadership, kept away from the district conference this time. The district conference has elected 33 delegates for the state conference. It also elected a 12-member district secretariat with four new faces -- KS Sunil Kumar, S Pushpalatha, and MLAs DK Murali and V Joy.
Besides Pirappancode Murali, Sampath and Sivankutty, the others dropped from the district committee are Chettachal Sahadevan, TCS Vijayan, G Rajan, Thiruvallam Sivarajan, Pattam Vamadevan, WR Heeba and Pulluvila Stanley.
It is learnt that Murali, Sivarajan, Sahadevan and Vamadevan were dropped due to the age ceiling and ill-health.
Third stint for Anavoor
It is the third stint for Anavoor Nagappan as CPM district secretary. He was first elected to the post in 2016 when Kadakampally Surendran stepped down to contest the assembly elections. He was re-elected as district secretary in 2018.
A party state committee member, he has earlier served as the Thiruvananthapuram district panchayat president. Anavoor had also worked as the Karshaka Thozhilali Union state vice-president and as a central committee member.
Having entered politics through student and youth organisations, he was part of many agitations too. He is a resident of Kunnathukal panchayat near Neyyattinkara.
District secretariat members
Anavoor Nagappan
C Jayan Babu
C Ajayakumar
BP Murali
N Ratheendran
R Ramu
KC Vikraman
Puthankada Vijayan
KS Sunil Kumar
DK Murali
S Pushpalatha
V Joy