Senior leader of the CPI(M) Kodiyeri Balakrishnan has returned to the post of state secretary of the party in Kerala. The party state Secretariat convened on Friday, December 3 decided to bring back the Polit Bureau member to the topmost post of the party state unit. He had quit the post a year ago, on November 13, citing health reasons.
Rumours had been rife that he would be back to the post as his youngest son Bineesh Kodiyeri got bail from a Bengaluru court in a narcotics case in October this year. Bineesh had been in jail for a year after being arrested by the Enforcement Directorate for his alleged links in a drug peddling case. Kodiyeri had stepped aside as the party secretary days after the arrest of Bineesh.
The party, however, in a statement issued, had said that Kodieyri was going on leave for availing medical treatment. He had been undergoing treatment for cancer then. Kodiyeri, it was widely believed, stepped away from the post as a section in the party believed that the arrest of Bineesh had impacted the image of the party. A Vijayaraghavan was holding the post as acting secretary in the absence of Kodiyeri.
Kodiyeri had been active during campaigning in the Assembly elections held in the state in May this year. The LDF came back to power with a resounding majority. The party state Secretariat had appointed him as Chief Editor of the CPI(M) mouthpiece Deshabhimani in May 2021.
One of the senior-most leaders of the ruling CPI(M) in Kerala, Kodiyeri hails from the party stronghold of Kannur. He was first elected as state secretary in February 2015. He was re-elected in 2018 after completing his three-year term. Kodiyeri held the portfolio of Home Minister in the VS Achuthanandan-led Left Democratic Front government, from 2006 to 2011.