Get 72% off on an annual Print +Digital subscription of India Today Magazine

SUBSCRIBE

Left Hand Drive

The 88-year-old CPI(M)General Secretary Harkishan Singh Surjeet may have been the architect of the UPA but now it is the second line of leaders, all in their 50s, that is calling the shots both inside the organisation and outside.

Listen to Story

Advertisement
Left Hand Drive

Karat and Yechury are the new power centres
With 44 MPs, the CPI(M) comrades are not only instrumental in providing stability to the Congress-led government but their influence is also becoming visible in every government document.

The 88-year-old CPI(M)General Secretary Harkishan Singh Surjeet may have been the architect of the UPA but now it is the second line of leaders, all in their 50s, that is calling the shots both inside the organisation and outside.

advertisement

Prakash Karat, 56, has emerged as the key player. But the biggest challenge for Karat comes from the youngest Politburo member, 51-year old Sitaram Yechury. A Surjeet acolyte, Yechury, also a JNU alumnus, is the pointsman regarding political allies.

An economist by training, he is the CPI(M)'s coordinator with the UPA. Comfortable in Hindi and English, Yechury is the party's most visible face on TV. While in 1996 Yechury, like Karat, opposed Basu becoming the prime minister, in 2004 he voted against Karat's directive.

At one time the best of friends, today the two hold different views on critical issues. When Karat claimed "the CPI(M) had merely endorsed the CMP, not signed it'', Yechury scoffed at the stand: "Well, the CMP is not a bank cheque that you need to sign before encashing.''

by Ajit Kumar Jha

June 21, 2004

To read more, get your copy of India Today here.