TURMOIL IN THE EAST BLOC : Bulgarian Communists Renounce the Dominant Role of Their Party : East Bloc: Central Committee also ousts disgraced leader Todor Zhivkov and his son.

The ruling Communist Party, responding to increasing popular calls for change, Wednesday renounced its leading role in running Bulgaria and expelled disgraced former leader Todor Zhivkov and two former Politburo members.

The official BTA news agency said that the party’s policy-making Central Committee met and decided to ask the National Assembly to repeal two clauses in the constitution that empower the Communists with the “construction of an advanced socialist society.”

“The Bulgarian Communist Party renounces its leading role in society and state,” BTA said.

Earlier, the Central Committee decided to expel Zhivkov, his son Vladimir, and Milko Balev, who was Zhivkov’s private secretary for many years. The latter two were widely regarded as close Zhivkov allies and architects of his hard-line policies, the news agency said.

The announcements came on the third day of the Central Committee meeting in Sofia, convened under new party leader Petar Mladenov to discuss its response to further calls for democracy.

Bulgaria’s ruling Communists, eager not to lag behind in the whirlwind of change sweeping Eastern Europe, followed similar moves by the East German and Czechoslovak Communist parties in voting themselves out of power.

The official news agency said the proposal to repeal the two clauses of the constitution would be put to the Communist-dominated National Assembly at a session today.

The two clauses read: “The Bulgarian Communist Party is the leading force in society and in the state” and “The Bulgarian Communist Party heads the construction of an advanced socialist society in the People’s Republic of Bulgaria in close cooperation with the Bulgarian Agrarian Party”--the last a reference to the only other officially sanctioned party here.

With today’s dismissal, the 78-year-old Zhivkov, who ruled Bulgaria for 35 years, loses the last of his Communist Party identity. Ousted as party leader and head of state last month, he was expelled from the Central Committee in a second party house-cleaning last week.

Zhivkov has come under increasing attack for alleged mismanagement, corruption and dictatorial rule. In this drab workers’ state, he has been accused publicly of living lavishly in 13 opulent official residences and six hunting lodges. Officials have said the buildings will be turned over to the public.

His 37-year-old son Vladimir was responsible for the party’s culture department. He and Balev were jettisoned from the Politburo in the November purge.

Western diplomats in Sofia said the fact that the Zhivkovs and Balev have now been expelled from the party means they could go on trial.

The Communist Party has been buffeted by personnel and policy changes since Mladenov took over, but opposition groups are seeking further reforms.

Bowing to demands, Mladenov promised Monday to hold free parliamentary elections, talk with the opposition and end the party’s guaranteed monopoly on power.

But many opposition activists still want the entire Central Committee to resign.

Earlier Wednesday, Bulgarian Radio said Petar Dyulgerov, president of the official trade union, had asked to be relieved of his position as a non-voting Politburo member.

It was not clear whether Dyulgerov, also regarded as a Zhivkov ally, would retain his Central Committee membership.

But the radio later said Mladenov had refused Dyulgerov’s resignation, telling the plenum, “It is not expedient for the party to accept his proposal at the moment.”

A number of Central Committee members, including Foreign Minister Boyko Dimitrov, have also called for a further cleanup.

“The most important thing at the moment that can help the people to trust the party is to clean its ranks of active supporters of the command-administrative system,” one of the members, Boris Tsvetkov, told the plenum.

As the Central Committee meeting drew to a close, a crowd estimated by Western reporters at 60,000 gathered in the plaza outside to show support in a rally sponsored by the party. Signs hoisted above the throng read, “A Bulgarian Communist Party of Untainted People” and “Together With the Bulgarian Communist Party for New Democratic Communist Socialism.”

Nearby, outside the Alexander Nevsky Orthodox Cathedral, about 2,000 people applauded a speaker from the Agrarian Party, which has long taken a back seat to the Communists. “Today we end this semi-existence,” the speaker declared.

On Sunday, more than 50,000 people demonstrated in Sofia, chanting calls for reform and dialogue between the Communists and the opposition. It was the largest pro-democracy display since the Communists consolidated power in 1946.