Kanam or Divakaran may succeed Chandrappan

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With the sudden demise of CPI state secretary CK Chandrappan, the spotlight will soon be on choosing his successor to take up the reins of the party.Among the likely candidates who will be considered for the post are C Divakaran, former minister and MLA, and Kanam Rajendran, ex-MLA and state president of AITUC. There are also some others whose names may crop up while finalising a choice, like that of former assistant secretary K E Ismail.Incidentally, the death of Chandrappan has put the CPI in a situation which the party had never faced before in the past while looking for an acceptable face to lead the party in the state.In the past, there was always a leader who was groomed and ready to assume charge as the successor. While the state CPI unit had been able to keep at bay the bulldozing attempts of ‘Big B’ CPM while Veliyam Bhargavan and later Chandrappan were in control, the future political situation could be of a different kind.