West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee and Biman Bose, both of whom are politburo members of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), would shoulder greater responsibility in the absence of the party's state secretary Anil Biswas who is seriously ill, party general secretary Prakash Karat said in Kolkata on Monday.

CPI (M) Politburo member Anil Biswas critical

Emerging from his meeting with the CPI-M state secretariat in Kolkata, Karat told reporters, "Anil Biswas is seriously ill. I met the party's state secretariat. We discussed the issue of carrying our work. In view of his illness, Buddhadev Bhattacharjee and Biman Bose, the two politburo members, will shoulder greater responsibility."

The emergency meeting was attended by state secretariat members, including party veteran Jyoti Basu, Buddhadev Bhattacharjee and Biman Bose.

The party in its secretariat meeting yesterday had decided that state secretariat members would share Biswas' work on the eve of election. CPI-M politburo member Sitaram Yechuri was present in the meeting.