Kanam Rajendran was unanimously re-elected Communist Party of India (CPI) State secretary for yet another term on the final day of the party State conference here on Sunday. The four-day State conference, held ahead of the 23rd party congress to be held in Kollam in the last week of April, discussed a wide spectrum of issues related to the party and the government.
As many as 552 delegates from across the State took part in the discussions.
Briefing the media, Mr. Rajendran said there were criticisms not only against the government but also against the party representatives in the government. But such criticisms were part of the party set-up, he said.
CPI stand vindicated
Mr. Rajendran said the defeat of the Left and the triumph of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Tripura vindicated the CPI stand that formation of a broader platform of secular and democratic parties to take on the Sangh Parivar forces had become the need of the hour. The CPI has a huge responsibility in the current political milieu, he said. Mr. Rajendran said that expression of differences and intra-party criticisms would help strengthen the CPI.
He admitted there were criticisms against him too.
As many as 18 members were removed from the State council. But 25 new members were included in the 96-member council. The new council members are P. Vasantham, Mahesh Kakkath, Subhesh Sudhakaran, R. Ramesh, and Pallichal Vijayan from Thiruvananthapuram; Chittayam Gopakumar, G.S. Jayalal, R. Rajendran, S. Venugopal and R. Vijayakumar from Kollam; K.S. Ravi, Deepti Ajayakumar and N. Ravindran from Alappuzha; V.K. Santhosh Kumar and O.P.A. Salam from Kottayam; E.S. Bijimol, K. Salimkumar and C.A. Elias from Idukki; M.T. Nixon and Babu Paul from Ernakulam; A.K. Chandran and K. Sreekumar from Thrissur; M. Narayanan from Kozhikode; C.P. Santhoshkumar from Kannur; and Baingalam Kunhikrishnan (from Kasaragod).
