Kerala leader M A Baby elected CPI(M) general secretary, first from minority group

Madurai | Veteran leader MA Baby has been elected CPI(M) general secretary at its 24th All India Party Congress.

A former state minister, Baby is the second leader from the party's Kerala unit to be elected to the top post, following in the footsteps of CPI(M) stalwart EMS Namboodiripad. While Prakash Karat -- who served as general secretary between 2005 and 2015 -- hails from Kerala, he belonged to the party's Delhi unit.

A section of leaders had put their weight behind All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) president Ashok Dhawale for the top post.

Sources said Surya Kanta Mishra, Nilotpal Basu, Mohd Salim and Ramchandra Dome were among those who backed Dhawale.

Karat, who served as interim coordinator in the run-up to the congress following the passing of general secretary Sitaram Yechury, said, "The congress has chalked out a political line for the future, the organisational steps needed to take the party forward and, on that basis, it has elected a new leadership, a new Central Committee, a new Politburo and a new general secretary."

Baby, who has been a member of the CPI(M) Politburo -- its highest decision-making body -- since 2012, called himself an "obedient soldier" of the party.

Speaking to reporters after his election, the veteran leader admitted that there had been a decline in the party's strength and said every CPI(M) member needed to come together to achieve the goal of strengthening it.

In his message to the delegates after his name was announced as general secretary, Baby called for consolidating the strengths of the party's different committees as well as mass organisations.

"If we work together … all the branches, all the intermediary committees, all the state committees … there are mass organisations that have more than five million members... If we are able to activate them, they will be able to face the challenges we are faced with," he said.

Born to PM Alexander and Lilly Alexander in Kerala's Prakkulam in 1954, Baby's first exposure to politics came when he joined the Kerala Students' Federation -- a precursor to the Students Federation of India (SFI) -- while in school.

He became a member of the Rajya Sabha in 1986 and served till 1998. He was education minister in the VS Achuthanandan-led Kerala government between 2006 and 2011.

Baby has keen interest in music, cinema and literature.

He is married to Betty Louis, who has served in the Kerala state committee of the SFI. They have a son, named Ashok Betty Nelson.

The post of general secretary fell vacant following Yechury's passing last September.

A new Central Committee and Politburo were elected at the 24th All India Party Congress of the CPI(M), with several top leaders stepping down after crossing the age ceiling and new faces being inducted.

The 84-member Central Committee elected on Sunday includes 30 new faces. The Central Committee elected an 18-member Politburo, including eight new members.