CPM H’bad meet casts shadow on Bengal poll

Shubhadeep Choudhury

Tribune News Service 

Kolkata, April 25 

The CPM-led Left Front of West Bengal, which ran into internal problems when the CPM and the Congress had an electoral understanding during the 2016 Assembly elections, may face similar issues on the occasion of the panchayat polls in the state.

Fresh from the Hyderabad party congress of the CPM where electoral collaboration with the Congress party got the thumbs up from members, the soon to be held panchayat poll in West Bengal is being seen by a strong section of the CPM as a natural testing ground for the experiment.

During the Assembly elections when the CPM and the Congress had reached an understanding, the former had been accused of sacrificing its old allies with the RSP being the worst victim of this phenomenon.

In their bid to defeat the Trinamool Congress, the CPM supported the Congress candidate at Alipurduar ignoring the RSP nominee from the seat whose name was announced by none other than LF chairman and CPM leader Biman Bose himself. 

Similarly, at Kalchini also, the local CPM unit refrained from supporting the RSP nominee. Same thing happened at Jhargram where CPM supported another candidate instead of campaigning for the local Left Front nominee. There are more such instances.

CPM state committee member and former West Bengal government minister Gautam Deb has already aired the view that CPM and Congress must work in tandem for the panchayat elections. The suggestion has been welcomed by WBPCC chief Adhir Chowdhury.