People's Democracy

N Varadarajan Re-elected State Secretary

The 19th conference of Tamilnadu state committee of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), concluded at Madurai on January 10, 2008, elected a 79-member state committee (leaving one seat to be filled up later), which included 9 women members. The new state committee unanimously elected N Varadarajan as secretary for the third time.

The 81-year-old leader N Varadarajan, who started his life as a spinning mill worker at Dindigul, joined the Communist Party in 1943. He was a member of the state committee in the undivided CPI and continued in that capacity on joining the CPI (M) in 1964. He held the posts of secretary of the Dindugal town committee and the Madurai district committee. He was elected a member of the state secretariat in 1978 and to the central committee in 1996.

N Varadarajan had also served as an MLA three times in 1967, 1977 and 1980.

He had participated in several protests and was imprisoned for nearly three years.

The conference also elected a five-member state control commission headed by K Dorairaj.