Informal talks have started in the Kerala CPI(M) over who its next secretary will be as Pinarayi Vijayan, who has held the position for the past 16 years, is to step down with the State conference to be held most probably in February, 2015 as part of the 21st party congress on the basis of the policy of not allowing secretaries to continue for more than three terms.
Pinarayi, who has already stated that a new secretary for the State unit will be elected in the next State conference, is reportedly planning to enter the parliamentary field by contesting the 2016 Assembly election from Thalassery or Dharmadom in Kannur district. Pinarayi had become the State CPI(M) secretary in 1998.
The change of guard is taking place at a time when the central leadership of the party is trying to formulate a new policy and strategy to suit the changed times and when a section in the State leadership is thinking of softening the party’s agitation methods amidst criticisms that organisation is getting increasingly isolated from the people.
A section in the party is almost sure that Politburo member and Deputy Opposition leader in the Kerala Assembly Kodiyeri Balakrishnan will be the successor of Pinarayi but another section says that this plan will face some problems as there is a need to keep regional balance in the party and parliamentary fronts.
Kodiyeri, like Pinarayi, is an advocate of the neo-liberalist faction in the Marxist party and belongs to Kannur in northern Kerala. Some leaders in the party are of the opinion that the party secretary should be from southern Kerala if Pinarayi is planning to head the parliamentary wing and that both positions must not be held by people from the same region.
Top sources in the party say that nonagenarian central committee member VS Achuthanandan, presently the Opposition leader in the Assembly, is most likely to retire from parliamentary life and concentrate on party affairs after the next Assembly polls. He heads the traditionalist faction in the party but it is now so weak that it can influence the election of secretary in no way.
Other in the reckoning for the party secretary's post are Politburo member MA Baby MlA from Kollam in southern Kerala, State secretariat member MV Govindan from Kannur and central committee member A Vijayaraghavan.