THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: As Kanam Rajendran's death was completely unexpected, there will be a delay in deciding on the new secretary of CPI. The matter may not be discussed for at least a week. There is a possibility that national secretariat member Binoy Vishwam will be made the state secretary.

Assistant secretaries E Chandrasekharan and PP Suneer have been handling the day-to-day operations of the party since Kanam Rajendran first took leave for treatment. They will take care of the matters for the time being.

When Kanam applied for a three-month leave to the party leadership for the second time for foot surgery, he also proposed that Binoy Viswam, a member of the national secretariat, be given the post of secretary along with him. Kanam's demise comes at a time when the National Council meeting to be held on December 16 and 17 was about to discuss this. If this is considered as Kanam's last proposal to the party leadership, then Binoy Viswam will be made the state secretary.

Apart from this, K Prakash Babu, former assistant secretary and member of the party's national executive committee, is also being considered for the post of secretary. He is a leader who did excellent work at the leadership level. P Santosh Kumar MP is next in the National Executive from Kerala. The national leadership will talk to these three, reach an agreement and hand over the decision to the state leadership. It should be discussed and approved by the State Executive and the State Council. It needs to be seen whether the party would be ready to name Binoy, who has the huge responsibility of being a member of the national secretariat, as the state secretary. If the party opts against naming Binoy as secretary, Prakash Babu will be named the secretary.

Kanam Rajendran was the ninth state secretary of the CPI in Kerala after the split of the Communist Party in 1964. C. Achutha Menon, MN Govindan Nair, S Kumaran, NE Balaram, PK Vasudevan Nair, Veliyam Bhargavan, CK Chandrappan and Pannyan Raveendran have held the post of secretary before Kanam.