Thiruvananthapuram: Paving the way for his successive stint as Chief Minister of Kerala, CPI(M) veteran Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday elected its Parliamentary party leader, in which Health Minister, K K Shailaja, did not find a place in the new cabinet.
The state committee of the Marxist party met at its headquarters AKG Centre here and elected Vijayan to lead the party. The party has 11 new faces from CPI (M).
The party state committee, chaired by senior leader Elamaram Kareem, decided to entrust Shailaja with the position of party whip, the statement added.
Vijayan had scripted history in the April 6 Assembly polls by leading the Left front to a consecutive term, bucking the over four-decade-old trend in the state of the people choosing between Communists and Congress-led governments alternately.