Prakash Karat back in CPI(M) saddle as 'interim' coordinator
New Delhi: Senior leader Prakash Karat will lead the CPI(M) as an interim measure until the 24th Party Congress in next April when it elects a new General Secretary following the death of incumbent Sitaram Yechury.
The 76-year-old Left leader was chosen as the “coordinator” in the absence of a full-time General Secretary at a meeting of the CPI(M) Central Committee on Sunday.
“The Central Committee of the CPI(M), now in session in New Delhi, has decided that Comrade Prakash Karat will be the coordinator of the Polit Bureau and the Central Committee, as an interim arrangement until the 24th Party Congress to be held in April 2025 at Madurai,” a statement said.
This decision was taken due to the “sad and sudden demise” of the sitting General Secretary Yechury, the party statement added.
Prakash Karat will be the coordinator of the Polit Bureau and the Central Committee of CPIM as an interim arrangement until the 24th Party Congress to be held in April 2025 at Madurai. This comes against the backdrop of Gem Secy Sitaram Yechury's death @DeccanHerald pic.twitter.com/aO324t6Dbk
— Shemin (@shemin_joy) September 29, 2024
It will be keenly watched whether Karat, who is now in the driving seat, will renew the bid to amend the CPI(M)’s political line to avoid any electoral understanding with the Congress in the party’s bid to defeat the BJP.
He was in opposition to Yechury’s line of bringing together all "secular and democratic" forces, including Congress, to fight the BJP. The CPI(M) had witnessed intense internal battle over the issue with Yechury prevailing in the end that all "secular and democratic" forces should be brought together in defeating the “fascistic” BJP.
Karat, who was a Polit Bureau member since 1992, was party’s General Secretary between 2005 and 2015 before he handed over the party reins to Yechury, who died on September 12 at the age of 72. This is the first time a sitting General Secretary died while holding the post.
A consensus had arrived on the veteran Left leader at the Polit Bureau meeting held on Friday and Saturday and the decision came after the proposal was placed before the Central Committee, which started its meeting on Sunday morning.
At the Polit Bureau meeting, sources said, a consensus emerged on Karat's name, though some leaders wanted to explore whether they could bring in a new and younger leader as they wanted to “look forward and not backward”.
However, they left it as a suggestion, as leaders like Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and former Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar backed Karat.
Karat had completed three terms, the upper limit, as party General Secretary in 2015 and he had also crossed 75 years. As per CPI(M), leaders above 75 years exit the committees they represent at the end of their tenure.
However, sources said the leadership chose Karat as he is the most experienced leader to steer the party into a Party Congress, which is held every three years and elect the central committee and decide on the political line.