Pinarayi Vijayan elected as CPI(M) Parliamentary party leader

 

CPI(M) veteran Pinarayi Vijayan was on Tuesday elected its Parliamentary party leader, paving the way for his successive stint as Chief Minister of Kerala.

Health Minister in the outgoing Assembly, K K Shailaja, does not find a place in the new cabinet which has 11 new faces from CPI (M). The state committee of the Marxist party, which met at its headquarters AKG Centre elected Vijayan to lead the party, a CPI(M) statement said.

The party state committee, chaired by senior leader Elamaram Kareem, decided to entrust Shailaja with the position of party whip, the statement added.

Vijayan had scripted history in the April 6 Assembly polls by leading the Left front to a consecutive term, bucking the over four-decade-old trend in the state of the people choosing between Communists and Congress-led governments alternately.