'India Bloc Needs to Make Strategy Clear'

With less than a week left for the party Congress to be held in Madurai, senior Politburo member and interim coordinator of the CPM, Prakash Karat, said that their primary focus is on the expansion of the party's political influence and mass base.

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In an interview with Parvez Sultan, the communist leader also spoke about the induction of more young leaders and increasing representation of women. Excerpts:

What possible leadership change is expected after the upcoming 24th party Congress scheduled in Madurai? Will more young leaders be accommodated in the Central Committee?

We have a broad policy in the party about our leading committees or bodies, where we have a balance between continuity and change. In all party conferences or congresses, some older persons step down, some new people come aboard. That does not mean the elderly people will leave. As I said, we try to have a combination of continuity and change. And that will be the broad principle we will follow for this party congress also in the election to the Central Committee and Politburo. Of course, the new factor for us this time is that we are going into a party congress without our general secretary, who unexpectedly passed away in September last year. So, there will be an election of a new general secretary also.

Will the party get a woman general secretary in the near future?

It is not going to be on the basis of gender or age or any of those criteria. And the party at the level of the Central Committee and Politburo will look at who is the most equipped at this time to take on this responsibility.

There are 15 women in the 85-member CC. Will there be more women representation in the committee?

Yes, we have decided in our Central Committee that we will increase the percentage of women, not just the number. We are going to increase the size of the committee, number of women, and percentage of women in the committee.

Will the age limit criteria for some leaders, including Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, be changed?