From P. Sreekumaran
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Kerala unit of the Communist Party of India(CPI) will continue to follow the Chandrappan Line ably and assertively laid down by former state secretary late C K Chandrappan.
Fears on this count were allayed by the newly appointed state CPI secretary Panniyan Ravindran who assumed control of the party following the death of Chandrappan in March.
The Chandrappan Line had infused new vigour into the Kerala CPI, which was in the grip of a crisis of confidence till he took over as the party secretary. The party had regained the lost confidence following a vigorous enunciation of its new policy by Chandrappan.
The initial response by new chief Panniyan Ravindran makes it clear that the state CPI would aggressively assert and maintain its identity. The party would continue to strive for left unity with dignity and honour and won’t play second fiddle to the CPI(M).
Ravindran has also made it clear that top priority would be accorded to strengthening the party and the Left Democratic Front. The roadmap prepared by Chandrappan would be the guideline In this regard.
Chandrappan had laid stress on the need to first strengthen the party in pursuance of the larger and long-term goal of firming up the LDF. In that connection, he had hinted at an action plan to attract youth into the party. Unfortunately, before the plan of action could be put in place, he died.
With the new party secretary making it clear that there would be no deviation from the Chandrappan line, the party should lose no time in implementing those policies.
Panniyan Ravindran became the party chief as the compromise candidate since the supporters of both Kanam Rajendran and C Divakaran, frontrunners for the party secretary’s post, insisted on their leader becoming the chief.
The day-long discussions, which preceded the naming of Ravindran as the new state party secretary by the central leaders, saw a vigorous expression of inner-party democracy. As a consensus eluded the meeting, the central leaders including CPI general secretary Sudhakar Reddy suggested the name of Ravindran to which both the supporters of Kanam and Divakaran agreed.
No doubt, Ravindran, who was recently elected to the party’s national secretariat, has a challenging task ahead of him. But the soft-spoken and mild-mannered new secretary can be expected to bring his rich experience and excellent track record to bear on the new responsibility assigned to him. Indications are that in this arduous task, he will have the full backing of both Kanam Rajendran and C. Divakaran. (IPA)
