However, initial reactions from Left leaders do not suggest that they learnt very much from the third successive round of electoral defeat, mainly to the Trinamool Congress (TMC), during the last two years.

Out of 81 civic bodies including Kolkata where the polls were held, the ruling LF will now control only 18, the resurgent TMC at least 32, there is a tie in 3 municipalities, and the Congress 7. Of the remaining 21 bodies, the TMC and the Cong are expected to form the boards jointly in most cases, which will certainly make the ultimate score very respectable for the TMC.

For the Left, the drop has been massive, as earlier it controlled over 50 of these elected bodies.

As TMC supporters moved into a celebratory mode, organising spontaneous marches, beleaguered Left leaders were left searching for explanations for yet another poll debacle.

LF Chairman Biman Bose sought to put a positive gloss in Kolkata, pointing out that the front had won in 603 out of over 1800 wards up for grabs, a slight increase from about the 550 wards it had won during the 2009 Lok Sabha polls.

And in Delhi, Mr. Sitaram Yechury pointed out that it would be wrong to read too much into the civic polls, where only 85,00,000 voters participated, a mere 17% of the total. It seems Mr. Yechury forgot that by any statistical yardstick, a 17% sample reckoning was generally considered very comprehensive indeed!

Also, Left leaders themselves provided an unintended irony by organising a protest march against the Israeli attack on cargo ships carrying relief goods for Gaza strip residents in Kolkata, while the TMC supporters were bringing out victory marches. Talk about bad timing!

Indeed, the immediate Left response to the knockout blows the left received in the civic polls was preceded by a bizarre pre poll campaign. True, Left leaders spared no pains in reaching out to the people, cadres visiting individual houses repeatedly, in Kolkata and Salt Lake areas , organising small but frequent street corner meetings. Leaders made a point of apologising to the people in public meetings for the misdemeanours of their cadres, if any.

So far so good. But there was no political focus in their message. They stood for development and progress, they said. But hardly anyone mentioned the positive side of civic administration anywhere. In Kolkata, the Left only highlighted the increased civic revenues, but not the state of conservancy, environment, lighting or drainage or tax collection systems. And these are usually what civic polls are all about!

No, people were lectured endlessly instead on the need for isolating the TMC from Maoists, the alleged tie-up between Ms Mamata Banerjee and the Maoists, the need to isolate and expose the pro Mamata intellectuals, the danger to communalism from the TMC and the Left's contributions to the minority community! The conspiracy of the UPA and the US to drive the Left out of power was also a further underlying refrain.

It was not much different from the Left campaign during the 2009 Lok Sabha polls. And the generally peaceful nature of polling also made a mockery of Bose's initial warning. ”This time the civic polls will be marked by bloodshed”.

The sad conclusion is that the LF is as clueless in 2010 as it was about 2 years ago in 2008 when the signs of its decline first came to light during the panchayat polls. Successive by-elections and the Lok Sabha polls further demonstrated that the debilitated Left had hardly any following or new message for the new, young voters. And the civic polls now have just reinforced the same verdict — it is time for the left to think of quitting.

RSP leader and Minister Kshiti Goswami admitted, “The new voters are no longer with the Left.” CPI's senior Minister Nandagopal Bhattacharya said, “I think the front should resign after the civic poll results.” Agreeing, Socialist Party's Minister Kiranmay Nanda reminded newsmen that he had suggested this after the 2009 LS polls. Former Finance Minister and CPI(M) ideologue Ashok Mitra too had done the same..

With so many “Left” voices in favour of quitting, no one could blame Ms Banerjee for reviving her old demand urging upon the LF Ministry to reign and face fresh elections. She was supported by Mr. Siddhartha Sankar Ray as well.

Even within the Left, there was no denying the pall of gloom that descended on Alimuddin Street. Some felt that a resignation now would at least enable the CPI(M) to claim later that it had always honoured democratic norms and respected the wishes of the people. Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee belonged to this school, as he repeated his desire to quit.

Nothing doing, said party mandarins. Quitting now would send wrong message, a sign of weakness to the world, they said. Bose made it very clear that there was no question of holding Assembly elections before schedule. “In fact for all their tall talk, none of our allies are very keen to resign either,” said a CPI(M) State Committee member. ”They still think that given the uncertainties of politics, even last minute efforts can make a lot of difference, perhaps the TMC will make a major blunder somewhere along the line…”

Be that as it may, the left is still groping for an answer as to what is causing its debacles time after time and why its message, after 33 years, now seems increasingly irrelevant to the people. Once it finds the answers to these questions it can address the question of what needs to be done urgently to ensure its own survival. But for the moment, answers are eluding the CPI(M) leader, confirming the old charge against them, by their critics — after the 1964 split, the true leaders all stayed with the CPI while their followers formed the CPI(M). The party now needs thinkers as never before. (IPA)