Gao Gang
In 1953 Rao was transferred to Beijing and got promotion as Minister of Organization Department of CPC, which was in charge of senior cadres promotion and candidate recommendation. It was said that Gao Gang who was transferred to Beijing in 1953 too, competed with Liu Shaoqi as heir to Mao Zedong, exploiting Rao's hostilities to Liu and set up ally with Rao. Unfortunately, Gao and Rao obviously underestimated Mao's fear of being a puppet and Liu's influence in the CPC. Both of them were purged in 1954 and stripped the membership of CPC in 1955.