Former CM Achuthanandan to lead LDF in Kerala

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Former Kerala Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan was on Wednesday unanimously elected as leader of the CPM in the Assembly and to head the 68-member LDF Opposition in the 140-member House.

Former Home Minister and CPM Politburo member Kodiyeri Balakrishnan was elected deputy leader at the meeting of newly elected CPM MLAs held at the party's state headquarters AKG Centre here, party sources said.

That the 87-year-old veteran would lead LDF was a foregone conclusion as the party's central and state leadership favoured him right from the start, considering his pivotal role in leading LDF in the Assembly polls in Kerala. Former ministers AK Balan and MA Baby were elected as the party's Assembly wing secretary and whip respectively.

Though the LDF lost power to the Congress-led UDF narrowly in the polls, Achuthanandan had been credited with denying the rival a comfortable win.

The spirited campaign mounted by the veteran leader had greatly helped LDF regain much of its support after it suffered humiliating defeats in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls and the multi-tier civic elections last year.

As a result, UDF could bag only 72 seats, just two above the half-way mark, the most slender margin scored by the coalition in four decades.