CPI (M) politburo member Biman Bose was on Friday unanimously made the party's state secretary, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattarcharjee announced.

Bose was made the secretary in place of Anil Biswas who died last Sunday after a massive brain haemorrhage.

In presence of Bose, the chief minister said he would continue to function as chairman of the ruling Left Front.

The unanimous decision on appointing Bose as the party's secretary showed that the whole organisation wanted him to lead the party in the state, the chief minister said.

Bhattacharjee, also a politburo member, said that the party would henceforward function on the basis of collective leadership.

"We are badly missing Anil Biswas, but we are now giving stress on collective functioning," he said.

The party state secretariat and state committee met earlier in the day to choose the party's next state secretary.

The meeting was attended by CPI (M) patriarch Jyoti Basu, party general secretary Prakash Karat, besides Bhattacherjee and several other top leaders of the party.

Considered as a deft organiser who maintains close links with the party organisation at grassroots level, 65-year-old Bose will lead the party organisation in the West Bengal

Assembly polls next month.

Bose's was the only name considered for the top post. The CPI (M)'s allies in the Left

Front also supported Bose.