Pinarayi Vijayan, 72, is the iron man of CPM in Kerala. Characteristically unsmiling, Pinarayi, as he is popularly known, is a die-hard communist, uncompromising party leader and an able administrator, but not a mass leader.
The CPI(M) State Secretariat and Committee on Friday named Pinarayi Vijayan as the next chief minister of Kerala. He was chosen over 92-year-old veteran V S Achutanandan, who played a major role in bringing the party back to power in the state.
Pinarayi Vijayan, 72, is the iron man of CPM in Kerala. Characteristically unsmiling, Pinarayi, as he is popularly known, is a die-hard communist, uncompromising party leader and an able administrator, but not a mass leader. He is the leader of the "Kannur group'' in the party which is currently calling shots in the state unit.
Born to a toddy tapper father and a farm worker mother at Pinarayi village in Kannur district on March 21, 1944, he started his political career as an activist of Kerala Students Federation (KSF), the student wing of the Community Party at Government Brennen College, Thalassary, from where he graduated in Malayalam. Incidentally, it was at his village that the state unit of Communist Party of India (CPI) was formally formed in 1930s.
Before becoming the member of the Communist Party in 1964, he served as the state presidents of KSF, the earlier version of SFI and Kerala State Youth Federation (KSYF), the youth wing of the party, which is now known as DYFI. Since Communist party leaders were being hunted by the government, for the party's stand on Indo-China war during the time, he was also arrested and imprisoned for one-and-a-half years.
When the party was divided in 1964, Pinarayi joined in CPI (M). He was made the Kannur district secretary of the party after the removal of the then secretary MV Raghavan. He was jailed during the emergency.
Pinarayi served as the electricity minister in the E K Nayanar ministry from 1996 to 1998. When the party state secretary Chadayan Govindan died, he was elevated to the post in 1998. He had been in the post for 17 years and is the longest-serving state secretary of the party.
He was a close confidant of veteran party leader and former chief minister VS Achuthanandan. VS who had controlled the party in the '90s, made Pinarayi the state secretary. But gradually they fell out and became sworn enemies.
Pinarayi, who wielded power being the state secretary, either threw away Achuthanandan's followers from the party or weaned them away to his group using his organisational might. He filled the party committees with his loyalists and thus silenced VS's voice in the party
Pinarayi denied VS assembly ticket twice and had to change the decision with the intervention of the central leadership. Both were expelled from the politburo following an open spar. Finally, Pinarayi was reinstated and VS was demoted to a permanent invitee to the Central Committee of the party.
Pinarayi is facing a vigilance case on the allegation that when he was minister, he was instrumental in awarding three contracts of modernising three hydel plants of KSEB to SNC Lavalin, a Canadian firm violating all norms. The exchequer suffered a loss Rs 375 crore.
Though the CPM government denied permission to prosecute Vijayan in the case, overruling it, the then governor gave his nod. VS, then chief minister, said there was nothing wrong in the governor's decision.
Though the CBI court exonerated Pinarayi in the case, the order has been challenged in the High Court.
With political and administrative powers now concentrated in Pinarayi, the political future of Achuthanandan hangs in balance. Possibilities of Achuthanandan being expelled from the party cannot be ruled out.
It is also feared that under Pinarayi's rule, the Kannur group will unleash attacks against BJP and Muslim fundamentalist making north Kerala.
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