At the close of the penultimate session of the 21st Congress of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) here on Saturday, there was no official word — or indication — on who would be the next general secretary, with the present central leadership maintaining that a decision on whether the outgoing Polit Bureau (PB) would even suggest a name for the post would be taken on Sunday.
The outgoing PB met late in the night to finalise a list of names for the new Central Committee (CC). This list will be referred to the outgoing CC on Sunday morning before it is presented to the 749 delegates at the Congress. Delegates can also propose names outside this list, provided they are seconded.Once the new CC is in place, traditionally the outgoing PB suggests a name for the general secretary. Asked if this would happen, senior leader S. Ramachandran Pillai, whose name is in circulation for the top post, said: “We will decide that tomorrow [Sunday].”
Party whole-timers found this a significant indicator of the kind of dynamics inside the PB, particularly given the open assertion of differences by delegates during the deliberations. If the leadership is wary of its suggestion being turned down by the CC, they may decide to leave it to the CC in the interest of a smooth transition, they said.
