Thiruvananthapuram: CPI-M leader Pinarayi Vijayan will be the new chief minister of Kerala, party sources said on Friday.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the State Secretariat of the Communist Party of India-Marxist here, also attended by general secretary Sitaram Yechury.

Senior CPI (M) leadere Vijayan was the Polit Buro Member who has held some of the powerful posts in the past.He was the Secretary of the Kerala State Committee of the CPI(M) from 1998 to 2015. He was the longest serving secretary in the party’s history. He also served in the government of Kerala as Minister of Electric Power and Cooperatives from 1996 to 1998.