M.A. Baby elected the new general secretary of CPI(M)

CPI (Marxist) general secretary M.A. Baby was marked for success, having been exposed to political machinations while he was still a schoolboy.

The former Kerala minister was elected to the top post of CPI (M) at the 24th party congress in Madurai on Sunday, 6 April.

Born to P.M. Alexander and Lilly Alexander in Kerala's Prakkulam in 1954, Baby did his schooling from Prakkulam Lower Primary School and Prakkulam NSS High School.

His first exposure to politics came when he joined the Kerala Students Federation, the predecessor of the Students Federation of India, which he was still a school lad.

He joined SN College, Kollam, for Bachelors in Political Science, however, could not finish the course.

Baby held many positions in SFI and Democratic Youth Federation of India earlier.

The CPI (M) leader served as a member of the Rajya Sabha from 1986 to 1998, and later became MLA from Kundara constituency for two terms from 2006 to 2016.

He also served as the Education Minister of Kerala from 2006-2011.

Baby has been a member of the Politburo, the highest decision-making body of the CPI(M), since 2012.

In 2014, he fought the Lok Sabha polls from Kollam against NK Premachandran of Revolutionary Socialist Party, but lost.

He is married to Betty Louis and has a son Ashok Betty Nelson.

The post of the party general secretary fell vacant following the death of Sitaram Yechury last year, after which Prakash Karat took over as the interim coordinator.

The 24th party congress of the CPI(M) began on April 2 and concluded on Sunday.