M A Baby is CPI(M) General Secretary

M.A. Baby has been unanimously selected as the new CPM General Secretary in the Politburo meeting held on Sunday in Madurai.

An official announcement will be made after the newly elected Central Committee meeting.

Baby is the second Malayali to become the CPM General Secretary after EMS.

He was elected to the CPI(M) Politburo in the 20th Congress held in Kozhikode in 2012.

M.A. Baby was born to P.M. Alexander and Lilly Alexander on 5 April 1954 at Prakkulam in Kollam district.

Baby did his schooling at Prakkulam Lower Primary School and Prakkulam NSS High School.

It was during his high school days that he was first acquainted with politics.

After completing basic schooling, Baby joined SN College, Kollam, for pre-degree (plus two). Later, Baby did BA in Political Science at the same college. However, he was unable to finish his bachelor's degree.

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

M.A. Baby joined the Kerala Students Federation, the predecessor of the Students' Federation of India, while he was studying at NSS High School, Prakkulam. 

He has held many responsible positions in the Students Federation of India, the Democratic Youth Federation of India and the Communist Party of India (Marxist). Currently, he is a Politburo member of CPI(M).

He served as a Member of Parliament from Rajya Sabha from 1986 to 1998.

He was the Minister of Education in Kerala from 2006-2011.

He unsuccessfully contested from Kollam against N. K. Premachandran of the Revolutionary Socialist Party in the 2014 general elections.