As the 17-year-long rule of Pinarayi Vijayan as secretary of the Kerala CPI(M) is coming to an end with the four-day State conference beginning in Alappuzha on Friday, a tough fight is on for the top post in the party. The new secretary is to be elected on the concluding day of the conference.
The main contest for the top post is between two of the strongest leaders of the party’s Kannur lobby: Politburo member Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, who is also the Deputy Opposition leader in the Kerala Assembly, and EP Jayarajan, a member of the CPI(M) Central committee. Both are also strong advocates of neo-liberalist school of the party.
For the time being, Kodiyeri is the candidate favoured by majority of the members of the party’s existing State committee but party insiders say that the situation may change once the conference process gets underway. According to indications coming out from within the party, strong lobbying has already started for Jayarajan.
Kodiyeri is considered as one of the coolest figures of the party despite being from the Kannur lobby which carries the disrepute of following violent path of politics and many in the party praise his track-record as a former student leader and as one of the frontline leaders who had contributed greatly to the building up of the party in the State.
A former State Home Minister, Kodiyeri was inducted into the Politburo in the 19th party Congress held at Coimbatore in 2008. When faction war between the neo-liberalists led by Pinarayi and traditionalists under VS Achuthanandan was raging in the party, he had managed to keep a safe distance despite being a neo-liberalist himself.
But Pinarayi’s opinion matters a lot in the election of the new secretary and his vote is almost certain to be cast in favour of Jayarajan considering the power equations in the party. “Jayarajan has been the most trusted lieutenant of Pinarayi throughout his term as secretary. This is very important in communist parties in which loyalties matter a lot,” said a former CPI(M) theorist.
If party insiders are to be trusted, Kodiyeri has not been in Pinarayi’s good books since his induction into the Politbureau. It is an open secret that the Central leadership had made Kodiyeri a Politbureau member in 2008 in order to keep Pinarayi, perceived as an authoritarian leader, in check in the party, especially in the Kannur lobby.
However, even the supporters of Jayarajan want the transition of power to be a smooth affair and therefore they are adopting a cajoling path rather than that of confrontation.
Their main point is that it would be better if Kodiyeri, who has good track record as an effective Deputy Opposition leader and efficient Home Minister, continues his services in the legislature.
“But this premise itself will pose fresh problems for Pinarayi whose most cherished dream is to become the Chief Minister of the State for which he had twice tried unsuccessfully,” said the former Marxist theorist. “Two persons from the same unit, Kannur, leading the party in the Assembly could create serious problems,” he added.
It is said that there are other options before the party if the fight gets so tough that a choice becomes difficult. In such a situation, the party may consider junior Politbureau member MA Baby, Central committee member TM Thomas Isaac or State secretariat member MV Govindan of the Kannur lobby for the post.
However, Baby and Isaac are not in the good books of Pinarayi, who had become secretary in 1998, though both of them were close to him once. Baby himself was not very optimistic about his chances of getting the top post when he told newsmen on Thursday: “Don’t worry about it. The CPI(M) will have an efficient secretary when the conference concludes.”