Chennai/Thiruvananthapuram, April 29 Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin is popular in neighbouring Kerala too, with parties of the ruling Left alliance eager to invite him to their functions.
On Tuesday, the CPI's Kerala state Secretary Binoy Viswam and state Revenue Minister K.Rajan, the number two in the Pinarayi Vijayan cabinet, called on Stalin to personally invite him to the centenary celebrations of the CPI to be held in Alappuzha from September 8 to 12.
CPI is the second biggest constituent of the Vijayan-led Left Democratic Front government.
The CPI duo, after inviting Stalin, also called on his son and Deputy CM Udayanidhi Stalin.
Stalin and Vijayan share the best of relations and the two often interact. The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister was an important invitee to the 24th CPI-M Party Congress, which was held early this month in his state's Madurai.
Stalin and Vijayan had travelled together in a car to reach the venue near Kottayam in Kerala on December 12 last year to inaugurate the renovated memorial of social reformer and Dravidian ideologue E.V.Ramaswamy Periyar.
Prior to that, Stalin was present at the 23rd CPI-M Party Congress when it was held at Kannur, the home town of Vijayan, in 2022, and he was accorded a rousing welcome.
With Stalin being present at the CPI-M's 23rd and 24th Party Congress, the CPI is hoping against hope that they will be able to bring Stalin to Alappuzha to their party’s centenary celebrations.
The CPI in Kerala has always been taunted by both the Congress-led UDF and the BJP for playing second fiddle to whatever Vijayan does, and despite the Chief Minister facing numerous allegations since 2016, when he took over the helm of affairs in the state, it has not spoken out much.
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