The world's longest-running elected communist government, in the Indian state of West Bengal, Saturday accepted octogenarian chief minister Jyoti Basu's plans to quit next week and named his successor.
Debabrata Bondapadhya, spokesman for the Communist Party of India (Marxist), said the ruling Left Front coalition had accepted Basu's resignation and agreed to install state home minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee as the new provincial chief.
"We have unanimously accepted Jyoti Basu's resignation as chief minister and approved Buddhadev Bhattacharjee's name as his successor. Jyoti Basu had proposed Bhattacharjee's name and we have unanimously accepted his choice," said Bondapadhya.
Bhattacharjee has been heir-apparent for the past five years and been the ailing Basu's right-hand man.
The swearing in ceremony will take place on November 6.
Partners in West Bengal's coalition, headed for 23 years by Basu, earlier said they would try to persuade India's best-known communist leader to stay on in power.
But Basu's political rivals predicted his exit would pave the way for a change in government after state elections next year.
Pranab Mukherjee, a West Bengal-based leader from India's main opposition Congress party, which has been unsuccessfully trying to oust Basu's government for more than two decades, said: "We are prepared to take on the Left Front with its new leader."
Indian Railways Minister Mamata Banerjee, a bitter foe of Basu's Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M) who has repeatedly accused his government of unleashing a reign of terror on non-communists, said Basu was running away from state elections due next year.
"He should have faced the election as we wanted to fight the (CPI-M) with Basu at the helm," she said.
"The people of the state will do a post-mortem of Basu's long rule. He got a golden opportunity to turn West Bengal into a prosperous state. But everything has deteriorated -- be it industry, health, education and infrastructural development.
"Basu will have to answer for that," she said.
The 87-year-old London-educated barrister became chief minister of West Bengal in 1977 and has been trying to retire for the past two years, citing health reasons. He announced his departure Friday.
The ruling Left Front alliance in West Bengal, dominated by Basu's party, had been reluctant to let the charismatic octogenarian go.
"Basu can never be replaced," West Bengal's public works department minister Kshiti Goswami said on Saturday.
Manju Mazumdar, a leader of the Communist Party of India which is part of the West Bengal coalition government, said Basu's planned retirement could spell disaster for the state administration.
"His departure will certainly change the course of Bengal politics," he said.
Basu's announcement was followed by another blow when Marxist leader Somnath Chatterjee, a vocal MP and chief of the West Bengal Industrial Development Corp, said he would also step down.
"I will quit the day Basu retires," he said.
West Bengal will hold state elections early next year, and there are predictions Basu's absence could herald the end for the Left Front.
But Basu, who was once seen as prime ministerial material but never allowed to stake a claim to the post by his party, said his plans were final.
The CPI-M, disowned by both Moscow and Beijing took its firm grip on government in June 1977.
Basu began by launching wide-ranging rural reforms, sharing out land among the countryside's poor.
The policy won him lasting support as the proportion of people below the poverty line dropped from 52 percent to 27 percent over the next 20 years.
His communism was flexible, and when India introduced sweeping market reforms in 1991, Basu was one of the first regional leaders to invite foreign investment into his state.
The Asian Age daily newspaper said Saturday Basu's planned exit was "perfectly timed," citing growing dissent within his party and the increasing popularity of his political rival Mamata Banerjee – CALCUTTA (AFP)
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