After the CPI(M) central committee it is the turn of the second-biggest left Front ally Forward Bloc to chastise the Bengal Marxists on the issue of left-Congress electoral alliance. Close on the heels of a CPI(M) central committee drubbing the Bloc on Wednesday an uncharacteristic attack on its political big brother questioned the wisdom behind the pre-Assembly poll alliance with the Congress Party.
Raising the issue senior Bloc leader Debabrata Biswas said the “alliance struck by the CPI(M) with the Congress politically flawed as such opportunistic alliances for the sake of winning elections hardly work.”
Hailing the CPI(M) central committee’s decision to reject the proposals of continuing with the alliance Biswas said “the decision comes as a solace for a large number of left workers who had withdrawn from politics in the wake of this alliance.”
Being in power for 34 years had filled the left circles with some vested interests who promote “political opportunism in order to win elections but for a leftist being winning elections and being in power cannot be the sole aim,” he said adding allying with the Congress was a big blunder and the left politics had to pay dearly for that.
The CPI(M) leaders would not comment on Biswas’ statements but said all the issues of importance would be discussed in the Front meeting.
Nudged by the central committee the CPI(M) on Wednesday started a solo movement against price rise and ongoing violence in Bengal. Unlike the general seen in the past couple of months the Congress flag was conspicuous was by its absence.
State CPI(M) sources also said that State party secretary Suryakanta Mishra was unlikely to attend a similar rally called by the Congress.
However, the two groups on Wednesday said a joint walk-out in the Assembly after a Trinamool Congress MlA allegedly used unparliamentarily words against them. “Floor coordination between us will continue and there is no problem if we jointly fight the political violence by the Trinamool in Bengal,” said a CPI(M) leader.
Fighting jointly the Congress had benefited winning 44 seats while the left Front won 33 seats conceding the Principal Opposition’s status to the tri-colour party. Mishra and pro-alliance group had earlier said that the left would have got lesser seats had they not struck an alliance with the Congress.
Meanwhile, speaking on the issue senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Pradip Bhattacharya said that by breaking ties with the Congress the left had committed another historical blunder.