THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: MV Govindan on Friday resigned as minister after being elected as CPM state secretary. Speaker MB Rajesh will replace MV Govindan as minister while Thalassery MLA AN Shamseer will become the new speaker. The decision was taken by the CPM state secretariat meeting held at the AKG centre.

MV Govindan was handling the important portfolios such as Local Self Government and Excise. Hence, the majority opinion in the meeting was that MB Rajesh should become the new minister. As Kannur is losing a minister, it was decided at the meeting that the representative from Kannur should become the Speaker.

Earlier, the CPM state secretariat meeting was postponed to Friday afternoon as Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan was in Kochi in the morning in connection with the Prime Minister's visit. There were reports that Shamseer would become a minister.