Sitaram Yechury: An affable comrade who played peacemaker in Kerala

In 2016 after the Assembly win, when the CPI(M) chose Pinarayi Vijayan to lead the government contrary to the wishes of V.S. Achuthanandan, it was Yechury who assuaged the party veteran’s hurt sentiments. He chose to respond to sneering remarks with a smile — a quality that helped him become one of the architects of the INDIA bloc involving the Congress, even when the Kerala unit of his party abhorred the idea