Left loses coalition game

With the CPI being left out of the RJD-led anti-governmental electoral alliance in Bihar, it is evident that traditional Left parties have not been accommodated by the "bourgeois" parties in the country as a whole.

In Kerala, the Left Front has traditionally been a competitor of the Congress and its allies, and it is going to be the same for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. In West Bengal, the CPI(M) and the Congress were keen to reach some understanding but failed on account of squabbling over a couple of seats, with the Left party unilaterally announcing its candidates on seats that both were eyeing.

It is clear that all contenders in the political system are fighting doggedly for every seat as they hope to enhance their presence in Parliament. In fact, this has been the main cause for delays on reaching an electoral understanding on the non-BJP side.

Even outside of the Left, Trinamul Congress in West Bengal and Samajwadi Party and BSP in UP; otherwise thought to be "secular" parties, did not make the Congress a part of their calculations (unlike the DMK in Tamil Nadu, RJD in Bihar and NCP in Maharashtra).

The traditional Left thus has to be in the fray independently in the upcoming Parliament polls. Surprisingly, CPI (M-L) Liberation has been given one seat in Bihar by the RJD within the latter's own block of seats, but this is a strictly localised affair and has no bearing on national dynamics. The Left has been a steadily weakening force and could not compete for nominations with prospective allies when seat calculations were principally caste-based.