The State conference of the Communist Party of India (CPI has elected Kanam Rajendran as the party’s State secretary for the third consecutive term.
In his acceptance speech, Mr. Rajendran scotched rumours of factionalism saying the State Council had unanimously elevated.
Mr. Rajendran said the CPI had emerged from the State conference as a cohesive unit, not as a fractured one as predicted by many.
“The party has no groups or factions. Communists stand as one. Comrades have the right to voice their opinion in their respective party forums. It’s not an era of slavery. However, the party’s decision-making is always consensual and concordant in the tradition of democratic centralism.”
In an arguably oblique reference to the State conference eve “mutiny” over the 75 years age limit for State council membership by party veterans C. Divakaran and K. E. Ismail, Mr. Rajendran reiterated the communist principles of organisational cohesion, party discipline and central control.
Some interpreted Mr. Rajendran’s words as a veiled warning of possible disciplinary action against dissidents.
Mr. Divakaran and Mr. Ismail had suggested that the party lacked the unity necessary for a unanimous election to the State secretary’s post and implied that there could be a challenge to Mr. Rajendran’s leadership. CPI leaders remained tightlipped about the media speculation.
Notably, the party dropped Mr. Divakaran from the State council. Party district units, including Thiruvananthapuram, had bowed to the State leadership’s writ to adhere to the Central council’s age bar decision strictly.
Mr. Ismail is a national council member till the 24th party congress in Vijayavada in mid-October decided otherwise.
Senior assistant secretary K. Prakash Babu, projected as a possible challenger to Mr. Kanam by some sections of the media, has retained his State council membership.
CPI leader from Idukki, E.S. Bijimol, who lamented the perceived lack of gender equality in politics in a Facebook post, did not make it into the State Council.
The State leadership could also contain some “rebel voices” that had crept up during the district conferences and ensured the party’s organisational election did not jeoparadise organisational discpline. The reconstituted council has 101 members and 10 candidate members.
