M V Govindan, who took over as the party secretary soon after the demise of Kodiyeri Balakrishnan in 2022, on Sunday was elected as the new state secretary at the CPM State Conference on Sunday, March 9. This is the first time that Govindan has been elected as the state secretary; last time, he was anointed state secretary by the CPM State Committee meeting that was held on August 28, 2022.

A new look 89-member CPM State Committee has also come into being with 17 fresh faces. Of the 17 new faces, two are women: higher education minister R Bindu and CPM's Kongad MLA K Shanthakumari.
Though health minister Veena George has not been included, she has been inducted as a special invitee to the State Committee. In short, all the ministers in the Pinarayi cabinet are now in the State Committee. All CPM district secretaries, too, have been inducted.

Both DYFI state president and secretary V Waseef and V K Sanoj have found a place in the new State Committee. Rajya Sabha MP John Brittas, who was till now a special invitee to the State Committee, has been promoted to the State Committee. Kochi mayor M Anil Kumar has also been elevated. There was speculation that Jaick C Thomas would be the party's pick from Kottayam. But it was cooperation minister V N Vasavan loyalist P R Raghunath who got the call.

M Prakahan Master was finally elevated to the State Committee. The senior leader from Kannur was tipped to be in the top body during the last two state conferences.

With the age-bar kicking in, senior leaders, including former ministers A K Balan, P K Sreemathy and Anavur Nagappan have bowed out of both the State Committee and the more filtered 17-member State Secretariat. K K Shailaja, M V Jayarajan and C N Mohanan, all State Committee members, will replace them in the Secretariat.

There was speculation that the Chief Minister's political secretary P Sasi, the prime target of Nilambur MLA P V Anvar's rebellion, would make it to the powerful State Secretariat; his inclusion in the State Committee in 2022 was a big surprise.

Certain comrades had also expressed the hope that P Jayarajan, who was overlooked in 2022 for allegedly attempting to form a personality cult around him and also for his alleged connections with criminal gangs, would finally get into the good books of the party leadership and be elevated to the Secretariat. But it was not to be; he would have to remain content with his place in the State Committee.

Here is how the newly elected state secretary M V Govindan responded to P Jayarajan's non-promotion: "There are hundreds of comrades who are eligible to be considered. But the State Committee has to take into account many factors (before picking a comrade to the Secretariat)."

Eventually, it was Kannur district secretary M V Jayarajan who got the nod. A source said that the CM wanted Sasi in his office and was not yet prepared to release Sasi for full-time organisational work.

Ernakulam district secretary C N Mohanan's elevation, however, was expected as he was behind the successful conduct of the 2022 Party Congress in Kochi. A strong Pinarayi loyalist, he was perhaps the only CPM leader who openly took on Pinarayi's nemesis, Congress MLA Mathew Kuzhalnadan, accusing him of possessing disproportionate wealth.

The age factor has also seen the exit from the State Committee of senior leaders like former minister S Sarma and CPM's Ponnani MLA P Nandakumar, who had just crossed 75. Vamanapuram MLA D K Murali now fills the spot vacated by Nandakumar.

Former Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan, who is still in his 50s, has opted out of the State Committee, citing health reasons.

The only dramatic expulsion was of Susan Kody, the state president of the Democratic Women's Association. It was meant as a message against the scattered rumblings of factionalism in the CPM. "We found that there were certain deviant tendencies in the party. At this conference, we have taken a firm pledge to put an end to such behaviour," M V Govindan said while responding to the discussion on the working report that he had presented at the State Conference on Sunday, March 9.

Later, while interacting with the media, he confirmed that she was taken out for her role in what happened in Karunagappally. "No one involved in the Karunagappally discord has been included in any party committees," Govindan said.

Susan Kody had led one of the factions that disrupted the Karunagapally area conference. Karunagappally's was the only sub-conference that the CPM had to abandon in the run-up to the State Conference. Leading up to the State Conference in Kollam were 38,426 branch meetings, 2444 local committee meetings, 210 area conferences, and 14 district conferences.

The leader of the other faction in Karunagapally, P R Vasanthan, and those associated with him like P K Balachandran, C Radhamoni and B Gopi were already kept out of the Kollam District Committee. And now, Kodi, too, has been shown the door.

Some veterans retired from the State Committee are N R Balan, C M Dinesh Mani, Gopi Kottamurikkal, P Rajendran, K Varadarajan Rajendan, and K Chandran Pillai.

The new CPM Secretariat: Pinarayi Vijayan, M V Govindan, E P Jayarajan, K K Shailaja, T M Thomas Isaac, T P Ramakrishnan, K N Balagopal, P Rajeev, K K Jayachandran, V N Vasavan, Saji Cherian, M Swaraj, P A Muhammad Riyas, P K Biju, Puthilath Dineshan, M V Jayarajan, C N Mohanan.

Excise minister M B Rajesh, one of the leading lights of the CPM second rung, was not able to make it to the Secretariat even this time. His contemporaries P Rajeev and K N Balagopal and even juniors like Mohammad Riyas have been part of the Secretariat since 2022. A source said that Pinarayi loyalists had always accused Rajesh of not defending the Chief Minister forcefully enough in moments of crisis.