NEW DELHI: The CPI(M) central leadership meeting which will begin today in Delhi will take decisions on various key matters including naming the successor to the late General Secretary Sitaram Yechury. The meeting will comprise a Polit Bureau meeting today and tomorrow until noon, followed by a tribute to Yechury tomorrow afternoon. The Central Committee meeting will take place on September 29 and 30.
The Polit Bureau meeting will decide on who should be assigned the role of party secretary. This will be presented to the Central Committee for approval. If the Central Committee disagrees with the Polit Bureau's recommendation, they can reject it and appoint someone else. When Sitaram Yechury first became the General Secretary of the CPM, S Ramachandran Pillai had the majority support in the Polit Bureau. In fact, except for VS Achuthanandan, the Kerala unit of the party also favoured Pillai. However, as Sitaram Yechury was likely to get a majority in the Central Committee, SRP withdrew from the contest.
Since there are 7 months to go for the Party Congress, some argue that instead of assigning an interim responsibility, a new General Secretary should be elected. MA Baby's name from Kerala is being actively considered. However, the stance of the Kerala unit, especially the Chief Minister, will be crucial. The PB members from Kerala are Baby, Pinarayi Vijayan, A Vijayaraghavan and MV Govindan. Other Central Committee members from the state are EP Jayarajan, AK Balan, Dr TM Thomas Isaac, Elamaram Kareem, PK Sreemathy, KK Shailaja, K Radhakrishnan, KN Balagopal, P Rajeev, P Sathidevi and CS Sujatha.