Top Kerala News developments today

Key news developments in Kerala on Friday, March 4, 2022

Here are the key news developments from Kerala to watch out for today

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] will announce the party’s new State secretariat and State committee, which by some accounts, is likely to have a set of fresh faces. The age factor will compel several veterans to exit the committee. Speculation is rife in the media that CPI(M) State secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan will continue for the third consecutive term. There is also much theorising on whether Kannur party veteran P. Jayarajan will make it to the State secretariat.

The four-day State conference of the CPI(M) concludes with a public rally in Kochi at 5:30 pm on Friday. CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, CPI(M) State secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will address the gathering and expound on the political and economic line adopted by the party conference.

Leader of Opposition V. D. Satheesan and KPCC president K. Sudhakaran will meet at Indira Bhavan to hammer out the composition of the party’s district and block committees by accommodating the interests of opposing Congress factions. Both leaders will also discuss an alleged intraparty plot to drive a wedge between the KPCC and Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leadership. The AICC had halted the preselection process following complaints from factional leaders and a set of MPs. They had accused the KPCC leadership of stacking the committees with their loyalists ahead of the organisational elections, possibly in May.

UDF to stage sit-in protests across the State to highlight the alleged “break down” in the law-and-order situation, spiralling crime, growth of religious fundamentalism, CPI(M) cell rule in police stations and ineptitude of the law enforcement to protect the life and property of citizens. Leader of Opposition V. D. Satheesan is scheduled to inaugurate the State-wide protest in front of the Government secretariat. UDF convenor M. M. Hassan will address protestors in Kochi.

The working committee of the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) will meet in Kozhikode. The conclave will discuss various issues, including the political debate centred around the proposed tacit alliance between the party and the CPI (M) to counter the perceived right-wing drift in society precipitated by the rise of the BJP. By some accounts, only a minority in the party favoured such a futuristic tie-up with the Left. Most top leaders find the idea politically unattractive

A district court in Alappuzha will sentence two Bangladeshi nationals convicted for the murder of an elderly couple at their home in Vermont near Chengannur in 2019. The victims of the murder for profit are A. P. Cherian, 75, and his Lillykutty Cherian, 68. Judge Kenneth George had found the accused, Labilu (39) and Juval (24), guilty of first-degree murder. The prosecution has sought capital punishment for the suspects.