In 1964, Kulakov was brought to Moscow to become the Head of the Agricultural Department of the Central Committee (CC). Eleven months later, Kulakov was appointed to the post of Central Committee Secretary for Agriculture. He was elected to the Central Committee in 1964, and to a seat in the Secretariat in September 1965. Gorbachev would often consult with Kulakov, as their closeness helped Gorbachev establish friendly relations with KGB chairman Yuri Andropov. At the 24th Party Congress, Kulakov became a Political Bureau (Politburo) member without serving a term as candidate member. It is believed that Kulakov greatly impressed Leonid Brezhnev due to his achievements in agriculture and politics. Three other young Politburo members, Volodymyr Shcherbytsky, Alexander Shelepin and Dmitry Polyansky, were all believed to have a future in the Council of Ministers, while First World commentators speculated that Kulakov's future was more in line with political and executive work at the top level of leadership. Kulakov was one of four who had a seat in both the Secretariat and Politburo; the others were Brezhnev, Suslov, and Andrei Kirilenko. In his later years, Kulakov had become one of Kirilenko's "counterweights" in the Central Committee.