CPM leaders not elected based on speeches, says Balakrishnan

CHENNAI: CPM central committee member K Balakrishnan on Sunday said that he stepped down as the party’s state secretary to elect P Shanmugam unanimously.

Addressing the delegates of the CPM’s 24th state conference at Villupuram, he said that despite having an opportunity to get elected again to the state office, he did not want to continue in the office owing to his age and help the party get a young replacement.

He said that Shanmugam had been elected unanimously by the state committee members. “CPM is not a party comprising of comrades who run behind the party posts or state secretary,” he said.

He condemned some media outlets for spreading rumours about the party’s democratic process of electing the state secretary. “Some media are spreading rumours that I have strongly criticised the DMK government to get myself elected as the party state secretary for the third time. Such reports only show those reporters' ignorance about the CPM’s functioning. We don’t elect a state secretary based on a stage speech,” he said.

Balakrishnan said that he and P Sampath, both central committee members, could have continued in the party’s state committee but decided to step down to give opportunities to the others. “It is the quality of the Communist and class character,” he said amid the applause of the party delegates.