 "Kerala CM will be decided on Friday: Prakash Karat")
The new chief minister of Kerala will be decided on Friday, Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Prakash Karat said on Thursday after the Left returned to power in the state.
The Left Democratic Front (LDF) led by the CPI (M) is set to win 91 of the 140 seats in the Kerala assembly.
Karat said the CPI (M) would name its chief minister on Friday."The state secretariat and state committee will meet in Thiruvananthapuram tomorrow to elect a leader."
While a majority in the CPI (M) in Kerala is known to support Pinarayi Vijayan, it remains to be seen if the national leadership wants to give a second term to 92-year-old V S Achuthanandan.
"It has been a wave and the people of Kerala have given a fitting reply to the corrupt (Oommen) Chandy government," Karat, a politburo member who hails from Kerala.
Achuthanandan meanwhile said in Kerala: "We will ensure that the state is put on the right track of governance.Our prime concern will be women's safety."
Another CPI (M) leader, K Balakrishnan said: "This is the verdict against the anti-people programmes of the UDF government."