BJP expanding influence in CPI-M strongholds too, admits newly elected General Secretary MA Baby
"We must understand the reasons behind the BJP’s rise in areas traditionally influenced by the CPI-M," he said.
Former Kerala Education and Culture Minister MA Baby has been elected General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) at its 24th Party Congress held in Madurai, succeeding the late Sitaram Yechury. He will serve a three-year term.
This marks the second time a leader from Kerala has been elected to the party’s top post, decades after the late Marxist ideologue EMS Namboodiripad, who led the first democratically elected Communist government in India.
Despite speculation that the new General Secretary might be from West Bengal, Baby, a Politburo member since 2012, was chosen for the role.
Strengthening the party’s independent base and consolidating Leftist forces to defeat the “neo-fascist” BJP will be the party’s main focus, Baby said after his election.
“We don’t want to conceal the decline in our strength. We will not be able to correct our course unless we address the causes of the decline,” he stated, adding that alliances with opposition parties would be forged based on the political situation in each state.
On poll-bound Kerala, where the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front is in power, he asserted that the goal is to retain power for a third consecutive term.
An 85-member Central Committee (CC), the highest decision-making body of the party, was also elected at the Congress. It includes 30 new faces and has 20 percent representation of women.
At its first meeting, the CC elected the 18-member Politburo. New additions to the Politburo include U Vasuki and K Balakrishnan from Tamil Nadu, as well as Amra Ram, Vijoo Krishnan, Jitendra Choudhury, Srideep Bhattacharya, and Arun Kumar.
With the party strictly enforcing the age cap of 75 years, senior leaders including Prakash Karat (who coordinated the Politburo after Yechury’s demise), Brinda Karat, Manik Sarkar, Subhashini Ali, G Ramakrishnan, and Surjya Kanta Mishra stepped down from the Politburo.
However, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has been granted an extension. Prakash Karat, Brinda Karat, and Manik Sarkar will now serve as special invitees to the Politburo, along with S Ramachandran Pillai, Hannan Mollah, and Biman Basu.
Additionally, Yusuf Tarigami and PK Sreemathy were granted exemptions from the age limit to remain in the CC. Sudeep Dutta, Bal Singh, John Brittas, and Sudhanva Deshpande will serve as permanent invitees to the Central Committee.
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