Achuthanandan to remain Opposition leader: CPM

Thiruvananthapuram: Former Kerala chief minister V.S. Achuthandan will remain the opposition leader in the Kerala assembly, Marxist leader Pinarayi Vijayan said on Friday. Accusing the media of "propagating baseless lies" about the Communist Party of India-Marxist's (CPM) Kerala meet, state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan denied that Achuthanandan wanted to step down.

"One thing I can say is that Achuthanandan is the tallest leader we have and he is not going to relinquish his post at all," Vijayan told reporters after being re-elected the state secretary for a record fourth time. "The media being critical of us is fine but propagating baseless lies is not acceptable," he said.

He added that it was Achuthanandan who proposed his (Vijayan's) name for the post of secretary. Achuthanandan and Vijayan are widely known to lead rival groups in the Kerala CPM. A new 84-member state committee has been named with 12 new faces. Five members of the outgoing committee were replaced due to age problems.

Achuthanandan and Vijayan are widely known to lead rival groups in the Kerala CPM.

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