Former West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee
THE RECENT rout in the Tripura elections fresh in mind, the CPM West Bengal committee Thursday announced a new 80-member team, which did not include any leader above the age of 75, barring Left Front chairman Biman Bose.
The day also saw senior CPM leader and former chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee (74) officially stepping down from the state committee. He, however, was made a special invitee to the committee.
Maintaining that the decisions were aimed at bringing young faces to the committee, CPM secretary Surjya Kanta Mishra told mediapersons: “Today, a new 80-member state committee has been formed. Those above 75 years of age and have not been keeping well, have been relieved. There is, however, one exception. Biman Bose, who is above 75, but active in shouldering party responsibilities, is still a member of the committee.”
“We have tried to maintain a balance between young and aged leaders. Seventeen new faces have been included in the state committee and 20 leaders from the previous committee have been removed. As a result, the average age of the state committee has been reduced by six years,” he said on Thursday, the last day of the four-day state party conference in Kolkata.
At the last state party conference in 2015, the average age of the committee was 60.5 years. In the newly-formed committee, the average age of members is 54.5, with the youngest member, Madhuja Sinha Roy, being 33-years-old. Fifteen per cent of committee members are women.
Mishra, who will remain the CPM state secretary, said Bhattacharjee, who had earlier asked the party leadership to relieve him from all party committees, will be a special invitee to the state committee.
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