CPI to find successor to Chandrappan today

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The state unit of the Communist Party India (CPI) will choose the successor to its late secretary C K Chandrappan on Monday, said CPI general secretary S Sudhakar Reddy.He was speaking to reporters at the airport here.The two-day state council meeting of the party will begin here on Monday.Chandrappan’s successor will be the eighth secretary for the CPI in the state after the split in 1964.C Achutha Menon, M N Govindan Nair, S Kumaran, N E Balram, P K Vasudevan Nair, Veliyam Bhargavan were the predecessors of Chandrappan.Incidentally, the death of Chandrappan has put the state unit of the CPI in a piquant situation as there is no consensus candidate for the post.Former minister and leader of the CPI Parliamentary Party in the Assembly C Divakaran, AITUC state president and ex-MLA Kanam Rajendran and Rajya Sabha member K E Ismail are the probable candidates in the race for the post of the state secretary.All of them are members of the national executive committee along with Pannian Ravindran.The party does not have a precedence of the parliamentary party leader in the Assembly also heading the party.But surely it can boast of examples of sacrifice from the power politics like that of PKV or Balaram.PKV had relinquished the chief ministership for ushering in an era of Left unity in the country in alliance with the CPM and Balaram had resigned from the Achutha Menon Ministry to lead the party in the state in 1971.The popularity of Ismail is at its lowest ebb in the party after his remarks against Chandrappan during the state conference in February.Most of the top functionaries of the party were up against him for his controversial remarks favouring the CPM.