TMC, CPM wary ahead of Bengal panchayat polls

KOLKATA: There is a tough battle ahead of us... The BJP will try to penetrate certain ethnic groups and tribal belts in Bengal using the tactics it used in Tripura. MOHAMMED SALIM,

CPI(M) politburo member

Even before the declaration of the final election results in Tripura, it became evident that the fall of the Manik Sarkar government would have an impact on political equations in West Bengal, starting with the panchayat polls due in a few months.

Leaders of West Bengal’s ruling Trinamool Congress realised that the party had been reduced to a virtual nonentity in Tripura, where the BJPended the Left’s 25-year rule.

For Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee, who started making inroads into Tripura five years ago and found some acceptance among the anti-Left Bengali population, Saturday’s results came as a a big setback to her hopes of emerging as a regional force before the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

Many leaders in the CPI (M)’s all-powerful central committee, including general secretary Sitaram Yechury, want an electoral understanding with the Congress and regional parties to counter the BJP’s rise. This is being opposed by former general secretary Prakash Karat and the Kerala unit of the CPI (M).

“The CPI(M) was defeated in Tripura because it did not consider it necessary to take along the other opposition parties in its battle against the BJP. The CPI(M) failed to fathom the impact of the BJP’s use of force. The CPI(M)’s ego, along with a lack of confidence among voters, led to these results,” Trinamool secretary general Partha Chatterjee said in Kolkata.

Chatterjee’s statement came barely two days after chief minister Mamata Banerjee wished her predecessor Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee of the CPI (M) on his 73rd birthday and sent him flowers and cake.

On Saturday, Partha Chatterjee’s statements triggered speculation that in order to protect its own bastion, the Trinamool might adopt a new strategy to stop the rise of the BJP in Bengal.

“Trinamool never claimed that it would win the Tripura polls because we had a traitor who was working secretly for the BJP. But the CPI(M) should have been on the alert,” said Chatterjee, an implicit reference to his party’s former all-India general secretary Mukul Roy, who joined the BJP in November last year.

Mukul Roy reacted sharply. “Residents of Tripura have voted for change. Mamata Banerjee recently said she would be happy if the Left won in Tripura. So, she has to take the responsibility if the Left fails,” said Roy.

For the Bengal CPI(M), Saturday’s results dealt a major setback. “There is a tough battle ahead of us. The BJP will definitely try to penetrate certain ethnic groups and tribal belts in north Bengal using the tactics it deployed in Tripura. But the ground reality in the two states is different,” said Mohammed Salim, CPI(M) politburo member