Speaking to TNIE after being elected, MA Baby said the election was unanimous. “It was West Bengal secretary Mohammed Salim who proposed my name; and it was backed by Dr Ashok Dhawale, whom some of you have projected as a general secretary candidate,” said Baby.He added that building up the party at places where it is weak, increasing the independent strength of the party and taking on the Sangh Parivar led BJP are the major tasks before him.Baby takes over at a time when the CPM has been mostly confined to the southern end of the country, specifically Kerala. The 71-year-old Kerala leader has a challenging task ahead, to win back the party’s lost appeal in other parts of the country, especially West Bengal and Tripura, where the party has suffered colossal electoral losses.With eleven out of the 16-member party politburo supporting his name on Saturday’s meeting, veteran Kerala leader MA Baby had an easy pass even though the party’s West Bengal faction was in favour of Maharashtra leader Ashok Dhawale.At the politburo meeting on Saturday night, it was Prakash Karat who proposed MA Baby’s name. Five leaders including Surjya Kanta Mishra, WB secretary Mohammed Salim, Nilotpal Basu, Ramachandra Dome and Ashok Dhawale opposed the same. The final decision was taken at the central committee meeting on Sunday morning. LDF convener TP Ramakrishnan, state secretariat member Dineshan Puthalath and senior woman leader from Malabar KS Saleekha are the new inductees into the Central Committee from Kerala.
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