As CPI-M’s student wing — Students’ Federation of India (SFI) — is slated to organise its national conference in Hyderabad from December 13 to 16, there are possibilities of some reshuffle in the top leadership faces in its central committee.
Party sources said that their leaders have already started consulting the student leaderships in different states on the formation of the new central committee of SFI.
“What reshuffle to be done will be achieved through the majority consent of the student leaders and no decision from the party will be forced upon SFI,” said a senior central committee member of the CPI-M.
A party source said that the most likely change might be for the post of SFI’s national president, which is currently held by V.P. Sanu from Kerala.
“Besides being SFI’s national president, Sanu is also a state committee member of the party in Kerala. He is a popular youth face of the party there and the Kerala leadership wants to use him in party activists in a bigger role in his native state. So, his replacement is almost certain,” said the central committee member.
The most likely replacement for Sanu, is Nitheesh Naryanan, who is currently the editor of SFI’s journal, Student Struggle, who also hails from Kerala.
It was learnt that the only hitch about Narayanan is that he is yet to become a whole-time member of the party. Anyone holding the chair of SFI’s national president has to be a party whole-timer.
“However, our party leadership has asked Nitheesh to complete the process of enrolling himself as a whole-timer before December and once it is done there will be no problem of replacing Sanu with him,” the CPI-M central committee member said.
The second- most important position in the national leadership of SFI will be its general secretary, which is currently being held by Mayukh Biswas, who is also the CPI-M’s state committee member in West Bengal.
Sources said that like Sanu, the party leadership in West Bengal wants to use Biswas in a bigger role for the party in his native state.
A section of the party as well as the student’s wing leadership wants Dipsita Dhar, currently the all-India joint secretary of SFI, as Biswas’ replacement as the general secretary. Dhar is currently pursuing her PhD in Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University.
“Dipsita is a popular youth and woman face of the party and also an outstanding speaker in the three languages namely English, Bengali and Hindi. So, there is a demand of promoting her as the new national face of the student’s wing,” the central committee member said.