MOSCOW, April 3 (Reuters) - Russia's parliament, whose centrist majority largely backs President Vladimir Putin, overhauled its key committees on Wednesday, throwing Communists out of most of their top jobs.
The move is likely to strengthen even further the Kremlin's grip on policy which is centred on reform of the damaged economy and rapprochement with the West.
The Communists, the largest single group in the State Duma lower house, were removed from seven of nine parliamentary committee chairmanships and promptly stepped down from the two left to them. The Duma's Communist speaker Gennady Seleznyov said he was considering stepping down.
Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov said his party, which latest opinion polls say could win a third of the vote in an election, would now form a determined opposition to Putin and his government.
He accused the Duma of being engaged in "moral and political terror, sponsored by the Kremlin."
"We will now move towards tough opposition to the policies of the Duma's aggressive, obedient majority.
"We will form a shadow cabinet...and not only criticise the authorities' proposals but come up with our own reasonable alternatives," Zyuganov, beaten challenger in two presidential elections, told reporters.
The deal between centrists of the pro-Putin "United Russia" faction, the Duma's second largest, and liberal groups amounted to a reversal of a pact struck in January 2000, immediately after general elections.
Then, Putin's allies joined forces with the communists to shut nearly all liberals out as committee heads, prompting loud protests of a plot between the Kremlin and leftists.
Centrists said on Wednesday that the shakeup amounted to justice being done and said the Communists had done a bad job in overseeing legislation underpinning key reforms.
"Half the committees were not working effectively, notably those led by Communists and (their Agrarian Party) allies," Vladimir Pekhtin of United Russia told Russian television. "This concerned reforms and areas requiring new legislation."
Under Putin's predecessor, Boris Yeltsin, the Duma constantly battled the Kremlin.
But since Putin came to power in January 2000, parliament has rarely resisted the president's will.
Pro-Putin forces have been strengthened in parliament by the formation of the United Russia group through a formal merger between two groups.
But an opinion poll conducted last month still showed the Communists well out in front, with 34 percent of voting intentions, compared to 21 percent for United Russia.