 Yechury is considered to uphold the coalition-building legacy of former general secretary Harkishan Singh Surjeet.He worked with P. Chidambaram to draft the common minimum programme for the United Front government in 1996 and had actively pursued the coalition-building process during the formation of the United Progressive Alliance government in 2004.Yechury has headed the party's international department and the party used to depute him as fraternal delegate to the party conferences of most socialist countries.