Rajya Sabha MP D. Raja will take over as the general secretary of the Communist Party of India (CPI) after incumbent S. Sudhakar Reddy resigned on health grounds, party sources said on Saturday.

The change in leadership comes after the party’s worst-ever performance in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The decision was taken on Friday at a meeting of the CPI national council, the party’s top decision-making body.

Raja’s name was proposed unanimously by the CPI national secretariat, which met on Thursday and Friday ahead of the national council meeting, sources said.