Dominant Left parties in West Bengal begin efforts to bring together smaller Left parties

Ravi S Singh

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 3

The dominant Left parties in West Bengal — the CPI(M) and the CPI — have begun exercise to bring smaller Left groups together before their formal talks with the Congress regarding an alliance for the forthcoming Assembly elections in the state.

A senior Left leader disclosed that talks between the Left Front (LF) and the Congress will start towards the end of this month. The elections will be held in April-May next year.

“In the interregnum, efforts are being made to bring together all smaller Left-groups for stronger consolidation against the ruling TMC and the BJP by bringing together all smaller Left groups,” the leader said.

There are, in all, about 16 Left parties with variegated ideologies in the state. Of them, only the CPI(M), the CPI, the AIFB and the RSP are the de jure constituents of the Left Front, while about eight are with status of associates.

Other than the main constituents, a good number of the outfits pursue hard-line and extreme revolutionary approaches.

Sources said while the CPI’s West Bengal State Council will hold a two-day session, commencing January 16, the State Committee of the CPI(M) will meet before it.

The electoral strategy of these parties will be discussed in the larger context of alliance with the Congress in the state.

The leaderships of the Left parties are keenly following the BJP’s moves, including a likely visit to the state by its president JP Nadda on January 9, which will be followed by a visit of Union Home Minister Amit Shah towards the end of this month.

Sources say formal talks between the Left and the Congress is likely to happen any time after January 20.