MADURAI: Quelling opposition raised by the West Bengal CPM, veteran Kerala leader MA Baby has been chosen as the Communist party's sixth general secretary. He’s the second leader from Kerala CPM to make it to the top, after communist patriarch EMS Namboodiripad.
In a first, an election was held to the party's central committee after Maharashtra leader DL Karad chose to contest. Though he lost after winning only 31 votes, the unprecedented development has taken the party by surprise. The party congress elected an 84-member central committee and one slot was left vacant.
The 24th party Congress decided to increase the number of Politburo members to 18 from existing 17. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan - already on extension - was given further extension in the Politburo.
Eight new politburo members were elected. They include Mariyam Dhawale (Maharashtra), U Vasuki (Tamil Nadu), Amra Ram (Rajasthan), Vijoo Krishnan (Delhi), Arun Kumar (Delhi), Jithendra Choudhary (Tripura), Sreedeep Bhattacharya (West Bengal) and K Balakrishnan (Tamil Nadu).
Veterans Prakash Karat, Brinda Karat, Manik Sarkar and Subhashini Ali, who stepped down from the Politburo due to the age-cap criterion, have been made invitees.
Speaking to TNIE after being elected, MA Baby said the election was unanimous.
"It was West Bengal secretary Mohammed Salim who proposed my name; and it was backed by Dr Ashok Dhawale, whom some of you have projected as a general secretary candidate," said Baby.
He added that building up the party at places where it is weak, increasing the independent strength of the party and taking on the Sangh Parivar led BJP are the major tasks before him.
Baby takes over at a time when the CPM has been mostly confined to the southern end of the country, specifically Kerala. The 71-year-old Kerala leader has a challenging task ahead, to win back the party’s lost appeal in other parts of the country, especially West Bengal and Tripura, where the party has suffered colossal electoral losses.
With eleven out of the 16-member party politburo supporting his name on Saturday's meeting, veteran Kerala leader MA Baby had an easy pass even though the party's West Bengal faction was in favour of Maharashtra leader Ashok Dhawale.
At the politburo meeting on Saturday night, it was Prakash Karat who proposed MA Baby's name. Five leaders including Surjya Kanta Mishra, WB secretary Mohammed Salim, Nilotpal Basu, Ramachandra Dome and Ashok Dhawale opposed the same. The final decision was taken at the central committee meeting on Sunday morning.
LDF convener TP Ramakrishnan, state secretariat member Dineshan Puthalath and senior woman leader from Malabar KS Saleekha are the new inductees into the Central Committee from Kerala.