Former CPI-M general secretary Prakash Karat may not oversee party affairs in any states after the distribution of organisational responsibilities are completed next month.
Karat retired after a decade-long term last month and handed over the baton to Sitaram Yechury. He will now head the party mouthpiece People’s Democracy.
As general secretary, Karat handled Uttar Pradesh and Punjab while Yechury was in-charge of People’s Democracy.
“He is an ideologue, a sound theoretician and an accomplished Marxist scholar. He will do what he is best at,” said a senior CPI-M leader.
The CPI-M politburo met last weekend to distribute organisational responsibilities among members of the politburo and Central Committee. The politburo’s proposals will be discussed and vetted by the Central Committee next month.
As the party struggles to regain its base and attract fresh blood, Kerala’s former education minister MA Baby is likely to handle its student and youth wings, SFI and DYFI, respectively.
Baby, 54, is the youngest politburo member and had earlier served as national president of DYFI and SFI.
Yechury, who earlier was in-charge of Maharashtra, has chosen to skip any state-level responsibilities to focus on the party’s overall affairs. He continues to be leader of the CPI-M in parliament, a demanding task, especially when both houses are in session.
{{/usCountry}}Yechury, who earlier was in-charge of Maharashtra, has chosen to skip any state-level responsibilities to focus on the party’s overall affairs. He continues to be leader of the CPI-M in parliament, a demanding task, especially when both houses are in session.
{{/usCountry}}While Brinda Karat will continue to handle women and tribal affairs and Jharkhand, the politburo’s other woman member, Suhasini Ali, has been given charge of Madhya Pradesh.
Kerala and West Bengal will be looked after by politburo members elected from the two states.