Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 13 || For the CPI-M, Friday is crucial as the party will elect its new general secretary after the demise of Sitaram Yechury.
It is the first time since the party's inception in 1964 that a general secretary has passed away while in office. The role of the general secretary is crucial as the 24th Party Congress, to be held in April next year, will elect a new set of office-bearers
Hence, the politburo will have to zero down on its immediate successor to Yechury.
Though Yechury’s predecessor Prakash Karat is a Keralite, it was the legendary EMS Nampoothiripad who was elected in 1978 as the general secretary, a post that he held till 1992, was regarded as the ‘Keralite’ to have held the topmost post for long.
Presently from Kerala, the politburo includes Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, M.A. Baby, A. Vijayaraghavan and M.V. Govindan. With Kerala the last bastion of the party, which has a state government in place, it could well be an advantage and a disadvantage too, for the successor to Yechury to come from the state.
The advantage is at the moment Kerala appears to have an edge in the party with a good number in the Central Committee too.
However, the disadvantage is the Vijayan government is passing through difficult times with a series of alleged scams. Also, the national leadership of the party is not happy with the way CM Vijayan has been controlling the state unit.