Senior left leader Sitaram Yechury is all set be selected as the CPI(M)’s next general secretary — succeeding Prakash Karat — in the forthcoming party Congress in Visakhapatnam in April. With his friendly comrades being selected as State Secretaries in Kerala and West Bengal, Yechury is unlikely to face any opposition to his elevation for the top post.
The tenure of Karat, who has been heading the CPI(M) since 2005, is ending in April. The current party norms allow a maximum of three, three-year tenures at the helm. Yechury’s elevation to the top post is likely to be a smooth affair after his formidable success in forcing a change in the party’s official line, pitched by Karat.
Surya Kanta Misra and Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, the secretaries of West Bengal and Kerala respectively, were the supporters of Yechury’s controversial move to press for his political line in the Draft Resolution to be adopted in the party Congress. His Draft Resolution had been initially rejected by the Politburo.
Among the 85-member-strong Central Committee, Yechury’s line, known as the practical and tactical political line, had got the approval of more than 50 members. This was a rare instance in the party’s history when an official line was challenged and then even got rectified. Though Yechury lost in the 15-member highest body Politburo in accommodating his suggestions for the political line, he was successful in... ensuring that the Central Committee forced the Politburo to reconsider. Yechury had his say finally.
Many party leaders feel most of the current members in the Central Committee are expected to make a re-entry. The expected new faces to be accommodated in the Central Committee are also mostly favouring the political line proposed by Yechury. The debates on the political line mooted by Yechury got wide support in the various forums of party units in Kerala, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Tripura, say the leaders, pointing out to the likelihood of the smooth selection of the party’s face in Parliament for the top post.
As Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar cannot be spared for party posts, there is literally no other contender to the top post. The CPI(M)’s Party Congress will be held in Visakhapatnam from April 14 to 19. The six-day-long conclave of the party would also select its new Politburo and Central Committee for the next three years.