Dalit leader D Raja and Atul Kumar Anjan are in the fray for the post of deputy general secretaries: ManoramaKollam: Despite the national leadership coming under severe criticism at the party congress, CPI general secretary S Sudhakar Reddy has not given any hints that he is going to relinquish the post. Same is the case with deputy general secretary Gurudas Dasgupta.
If Sudhakar Reddy, who has completed two terms as general secretary, has to continue in the post, he needs three-fourth's majority in the national council.
However, if he wants to continue this technicality won't be a hurdle for him. Senior leader from Kerala Pannyan Ravindran is likely to become the Central Control Commission chairman.
New faces are expected in the secretariat and the executive committee. According to the norms, there should be 20 per cent change in every unit. Besides, the consensus at the party congress was for a complete overhaul.
It is understood that talks over a change in leadership were held during the central secretariat meeting. The party, however, is divided over choosing a new general secretary.
It is unlikely that leaders from Kerala will support D Raja, a Dalit, if his name is proposed. The Kerala leaders may, instead, prefer national secretariat member Atul Kumar Anjan or AITUC general secretary Amarjit Kaur. Moves are also afoot to make both Raja and Anjan deputy general secretaries.
Pannyan Ravidran had said that he was willing to quit the secretariat since he could not work out of Delhi. Permanent invitee Kanam Rajendran could become a permanent member. Binoy Vishwam could replace Pannyan Ravindran in the national executive council.
Senior leader C Divakaran has been dropped from the party national council, according to unconfirmed reports. C N Chandran, Satyan Mokeri and Kamala Sadanandan have also been reportedly dropped. Kerala revenue minister E Chandrasekharan, K P Rajendran, N Rajan, P Vasantham and N Anirudhan are tipped to be the fresh faces in the national council from the state.
