Pinarayi likely to be PM candidate: Yechury to be replaced

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM (May 06 :HS) :The landslide win scored by the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front in the Kerala Legislative Assembly Election has further strengthened the hands of Pinarayi Vijayan in the party as well as in the government.

But the future of Sitaram Yechury, the CPI(M) general secretary, has become uncertain. It is an open secret that Vijayan does not like Yechury and is favorably disposed towards Prakash Karat. This is because of Yechury’s close ties with former chief minister and party strongman V S Achuthanandan.

Though there is no immediate threat to the position of Yechury, he will certainly shown the door in the next Party Congress to be held in early 2022. A new party secretary would lead the CPI(M) in the Lok Sabha election to be held in 2024.

The party cadre in Kerala is hopeful that Pinarayi Vijayan, who has recently been rechristened as “Captain Vijay” by party leaders would be the Prime Ministerial candidate of the combined Opposition including the Congress.

The Vijayan and Karat axis was responsible for denying Yechury another term in Rajya Sabha though the latter badly wanted to get nominated to the Uoper House. The Congress had come forward to support Yechury from Bengal assembly in the biennial election which was to be held to the Rajya Sabha from the State.

Another leader who would lose his position is D Raja, the general secretary of the CPI. Vijayan has given enough indication to the CPI leadership that Raja was not acceptable to the CPI(M) and a Kerala leader is likely to be elected in place of him. The name that is widely heard is that of Kanam Rajendran, the Kerala Secretary of the CPI who is a trusted ally of Vijayan.

The CPI(M) is likely to elect Kodiyeri Balakrishnan as the successor to Yechury. The  possibilities of Karat coming back cannot be ruled out if Balakrishnan suffering from some terminal illness says no to the suggestion.

The next two years will see many interesting developments in national politics with the CPI(M) playing the role of  the master puppeteer.