Marxist party change of guard in W.Bengal

BBC World Service, Monday 16 November 1998, published at 13:42 GMT

The Communist Party of India Marxist (CPIM) in West Bengal has appointed Anil Biswas as general-secretary, replacing the veteran leader, Sailen Dasgupta.

Mr Dasgupta said he was in poor health, and wanted to make way for a younger man.

He denied that there had been a power struggle in the CPIM, which has been in power in West Bengal for more than twenty years.

But the BBC Calcutta Correspondent says the election of Mr Biswas, the editor of the party newspaper Ganashakti, marks a victory for a group of younger party leaders who have been slowly making their way to the top.