High drama preceded Pannian’s election

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The name of C Divakaran gained an upper hand in the CPI state executive which had inducted new five members.
   Four among the new executive members supported Divakaran in the meeting which lasted for more than three and a half hours from 3 pm.
But the state council presented an entirely different scenario when  majority of its members attacked the proposal of the executive. Many members made a scathing attack on the executive’s decision.
“It is highly objectionable to impose the decision from the top. CPI should not turn into a party with dissidence like the CPM. We should not have an authoritarian secretary as in the CPM. If we select Divakaran as the secretary we would not be doing justice to the idea and vision of C K Chandrappan,” one state council member said.
Veteran leader E Chandrasekharan Nair proposed Kanam’s name in the state council and nine district secretaries supported, when national leadership asked their preference. Four remained neutral while one favoured Ismail.
The national leadership had to intervene five times in the six hours to calm the warring comrades.“The right to use democratic rights should not be denied,” few members demanded.
Then the national leadership told both the leaders to withdraw from the race and proposed the name of former T’puram MP and he became the eighth secretary of the CPI in the state.