Karat replaces Surjeet, Brinda also in politburo

The much-awaited change of guard at the CPI(M)finally took place today. Prakash Karat was today elected general secretary of the party by the 18th CPI(M) congress. He succeeds veteran leader Harkishen Singh Surjeet, who stepped down to make way for the generation next, citing health reasons.

The election of 56-year old party ideologue Karat, who hails from Kerala, came at the end of the six-day congress, long used to having veterans at the helm. An ageing Surjeet, now 89, had earlier offered to step down from the post. Along with him, the 91-year old former West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu had also offered to quit the politburo.

But the politburo refused to accept their requests and both Surjeet and Basu will continue to be part of the crucial decision-making body to which, for the first time, a woman has been elected. Prakash's wife, Brinda, who a couple of years ago created a flutter demanding the presence of women in crucial decision-making bodies of the party, became the first woman to enter the politburo.

Karat, whose tough line on the party not accepting the prime ministership when it was offered to Basu in 1996 to head a United Front government earned him the sobriquet of hardliner, said in his speech immediately after the election that the party would fight the twin challenge of communalism and the neo-liberal economic policies. Basu called the party decision a "historic blunder", but accepted the wisdom of the politburo.

Karat's image of a hardliner in the party has been reinforced by his inclination to stay away from the media glare and work behind the scenes.

Though there has always been talk in the media of a race between him and Sitaram Yechury for the top post, Karat's elevation to the post was not sudden. He was being seen as the designated successor to Surjeet.

Karat and Yechury were hand-picked by the party leadership in the mid-1980s to be groomed as the next generation leaders. As part of the effort, both were brought to the central office in New Delhi and inducted in the central committee. Karat joined the CPI(M) in 1970.

He had also worked as the personal aide to AK Gopalan during his years at the Jawaharlal Nehru University. He was students' union president in 1972 and 1973. In 1985, Karat was elected the secretary of the Delhi state committee and was inducted in the Politburo along with Yechury in 1992.

On staying out of the United Front government, Karat's logic was the same that kept the CPI(M) out of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) after the 2004 general elections. "Until the CPI(M) is not in a position to impose its ideology on the rest of the coalition, it will do more harm than good to the party in joining the government," he believed.

In 2004, the CPI(M) was reportedly offered 13 ministerial posts and Yechury, who had agreed with him 1996, too, had changed his mind after that.

After Karat's elevation to the top post today, Yechury said Karat and he had different roles to play in the party. "A Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee cannot be conceived of without Anil Biswas and Biman Bose, or a Jyoti Basu without AK Gopalan and BT Randive," Yechury said talking about the concept of collective leadership in the party.

In his speech, Karat said while there had been a lot of talk about a "generation change", the party did not believe in the leadership of "personalities" but "the collective leadership". He said: "Our leaders, unlike in other parties, do not want to cling to a position. Basu compelled us three years ago to accept his resignation as the chief minister."

Karat said he was not satisfied with the CPI(M) as the largest Left party in the country and the third largest in Parliament. "We want to make the CPI(M) a strong all-India party," he said. Calling for a rapid expansion of the party, he asked party members to reach out and mobilise them.

The new politburo comprises Surjeet, Basu, Karat, VS Achuthanandan, S Ramachandran Pillai, Sitaram Yechury, R Umanath, MK Pandhe, Biman Basu, Anil Biswas, Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar, Pinarayi Vijayan, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.

The four new members elected to the politburo are Chittabrata Majumdar, K Varadarajan, BV Raghavulu and Brinda Karat.

The Congress also elected an 85-member new central committee.