Pinarayi Vijayan

The Party Congress is scheduled to be held at his home turf Kannur next month. With the CPI-M presently having a presence only in Kerala, Vijayan knows that this is the best time to consolidate his position, and after doing it in Kochi by getting all his closest aides in key posts, he has literally stamped his authority.

The 23rd edition of the CPI-M's state party conference on Friday decided to go for a generational shift with the induction of more youngsters as party state officer-bearers by replacing all those members, except Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who are aged above 75 years.