The main reasons for CPI-M to ally with Congress remain the same compared to that of 2016. Although, the two parties failed to unseat chief minister Mamata Banerjee and its Trinamool Congress but they somehow resisted the BJP, which won only 3 seats by get-ting a vote share of 10 per cent — 7 per cent less than what it got in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. CPI-M, struggling for survival in the state, expects that with the help of Congress, which too has been reduced to a minor force in the ground despite being the main opposition party in the state on paper, it would be able to at least prevent the rise of BJP.

Already the 2014 Lok Sabha elections have given indications of the CPI-M and the Left voters leaving the red camp and voting for the saffron. Although the trend halted for a time during the 2016 election campaigning with Left-Congress messy alliance gaining limelight in the media and the political circles. But the trend of Left supporters joining BJP camp increased more after the disastrous performance of the CPI-M led Left Front in the elections — as the defeat almost completely weakened its credibility as a force among its core supporters, who are completely anti-Mamata, to dislodge Trinamool Congress from power in the state.

It was this trend that helped BJP win 18 seats with a vote share of around 41 per cent in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. BJP’s vote share was just 3 per cent short of that of the ruling Trinamool Congress, which fetched 22 seats with a vote share of around 44 per cent. And the Left with a mere around 7 per cent votes for the first time failed to even win a seat from Bengal in the Lok Sabha elections. This shows that CPI-M’s target to prevent both Trinamool Congress and BJP by allying with the Congress hasn’t worked earlier; rather it heavily cost the party and the Left. True that there was no alliance between CPI-M led Left Front and Congress during the last year’s Lok Sabha polls.

Already with the rise of BJP in the country, opposition under the Congress, including the Left and the Trinamool, have many times shared stages to take on Prime Minister Narendra Modi led BJP government. Such optics only weakened CPI-M’s image as an anti-Trinamool Congress force in the state. Although it's true that the CPI-M led Left Front has been vocal against Mamata Banerjee government most of the time.

On the other hand, Congress had been a partner of Mamata Banerjee in the past. True that the state leadership of the grand old party is against any sort of understanding with Trinamool but after the polls, if there is a hung verdict, then the high command would definitely ask the state leadership to lend support to Mamata’s Trinamool. In that case, the leadership would have to abide by the high command’s order.

CPI-M’s supporters are fully aware of this. Although in paper this alliance, supported by the Left leaning intellectuals, may seem that it would at least counter BJP’s rise, the reality is completely different. The main aim of CPI-M and the Left supporters of Bengal is to see the exit of Mamata Banerjee from power in 2021. That’s why they aren’t averse to even support BJP — which has now emerged as the only credible face among the anti-Mamata voters of the state.

Importantly, what CPI-M forgets is that its alliance with Congress didn’t help the Left in 2016; instead the Congress gained from the alliance. The Congress then even refused to go for an understanding with the allies of CPI-M — CPI, RSP and Forward Bloc. The grand old party took advantage of CPI-M’s weakness and took away many seats where it had almost zero electoral base and also at the same time, it put candidates against RSP and Forward Bloc and even against CPI-M in some constituencies. Not only this, Congress even failed to transfer its votes to the Left. All these reasons contributed to the Left’s disastrous performance in 2016. This time it seems that the beleaguered Congress is even day dreaming of leading the alliance forgetting that the two seats it somehow managed to win in 2019 Lok Sabha polls was also due to CPI-M’s liberal decision to support the party in those two seats.

Reality is that CPI-M shouldn’t ignore its own Left allies, for the Congress — as the left party did in 2016 polls, this time CPI-M has to ensure that the alliance is also between the Left allies and the Congress. If CPI-M’s real aim is to revive its own and the Left’s lost fortunes in Bengal, the alliance should be based on ground realities and the party shouldn’t repeat its 2016 mistake of ignoring its Left allies and being too liberal in seat sharing with the Congress — which is eagerly looking for this opportunity to grab the Left’s electoral space and may not even hesitate to join hands with Mamata Banerjee in the state after the polls in the name of preventing the rise of BJP. (IPA Service)