The four-day meeting of the plenum of Communist Party of China (CPC) kicks off China's political season which will culminate in changes at the top leaders except Xi and Premier Li Keqiang in the autumn next year when the party convenes its 19th Congress during which a new Politburo Standing Committee will be appointed.
Xi, 63, currently heads a seven member Standing Committee of the CPC which virtually rules China.
While the Standing Committee in the past represented collective leadership principle enunciated over three decades ago, critics sayXi's emergence as a powerful leader has overshadowed other six members of the Committee including Li.
By next year a new Standing Committee would be appointed for which jockeying has reportedly started.
Also Read
During the plenum, the party leadership will deliver work report of the party rule under Xi, official media reported.
Speculation is rife that the meeting would amend the collective leadership rule.
Since he was elected as General Secretary of the party in November, 2012, Xi systematically consolidated power both in the party and the military by carrying out a massive anti- corruption drive breaking established norms like not prosecute retired leaders and officials.
As he consolidated his power emerging as a rare leader controlling the party, military and the presidency, Xi now looks to amend the party structure to continue beyond the 10 year period stipulated by the party.
Ahead of tomorrow's meeting, Peoples' Tribune, which is affiliated with party's official organ People's Daily said, "China needs a leader like Mao and Xi fits the bill."
The article, published on October 18 called for Xi to be
named "the core" of the party leadership - a term that carries strong political meaning, the Post report said.
The Tribune said that modern China needed a strong leader, and that President Xi had the qualities to make one.
"China needed a strongman politician so the nation could again rise to greatness amid a time of strategic challenges and risks," it said.
The call by Tribune also stirred up voices of dissent.
"There is no longer such salutation as 'leader' after Mao," Chen Daoyin, a political scientist at Shanghai University of Political Science and Law, told the Post.
Mao's brief successor Hua Guofeng was once called "Wise Leader", but no one used "leader" to address Deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin or Hu Jintao, Chen said.
The salutation "core of the leadership" often represented the power of final approval or veto, Chen said.
Xi's predecessor Hu failed to win this status as party general secretary.
Nearly 20 provincial party bosses publicly called Xi "the core" before the annual sessions of the National People's Congress in March this year.
But for reasons unknown to outsiders, the call died down during the gatherings.