State-based analysts have reacted cautiously to the move, as have other parties. Oddly enough and lending credence to the proposal, the state Congress has responded immediately and positively, adding to the worries of the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC).

The muted reactions are understandable. The proposal has been sounded by former Minister and CPI(M)’s North 24 Parganas secretary, Mr Gautam Deb, regarded as a Maverick within party ranks for his occasionally unorthodox statements and style of functioning. He is known to be close to the former Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, although his basic approach to most issues remind people of the late highly popular yet controversial Minister, Subhas Chakravarty.

Although he took pains to stress that no electoral understanding with the Congress was being considered, his explanatory remarks suggested otherwise. The CPI(M) or the Left Front(LF), he admitted, was not in a position to defeat the ruling TMC on their own in the elections. He is the first Left leader to admit this publicly. This is an indirect admission of the organizational failure on part of the LF to put up a good fight against the ruling TMC in Bengal. The space for opposition parties and democracy itself was being destroyed by Mamata Banerjee in the state and by the Modi government in Delhi.

The CPI(M) was not only in touch with left and other groups not yet in the LF, it would also launch joint movements in alliance with other parties including the Congress on specific issues. ‘We simply cannot just give up, allowing Mamata Banerjee a free run’ he said. As for relations with the Congress, left parties had supported the Congress ruled governments for many years, and even agitated jointly on some issues in the past.

This showed Deb was certainly thinking in terms of the next Assembly polls due on or before May 2016.

The TMC lost no time in reacting. Minister for urban development Mr. Firhad Hakim said the people had rejected both the Left and the Congress in Bengal and there was no reason to think that they would do well and win the next polls, no matter what they did.

The LS polls of 2014 showed that the TMC, winning around 39% of the total votes, won 34 out of 42 seats owing to a split in the anti TMC votes. The Congress won around 8% while the LF won 30 per cent or so, even in its decline. Together therefore, the Congress and the LF could still give the TMC a good run for its money in elections. While the Congress has seen many people desert its ranks to join the Trinamool, its vote percentage has not suffered greatly. The BJP polled around 17%, but on its present showing, would find it hard to retain its share.

Congress leaders, among them Party President Adhir Choudhury, Mr, Pradip Bhattacharya and Mr, Abdul Mannan, were all supportive of Deb’s proposal. Mr. Choudhury said that the Left had never been untouchable for the Congress, while Mr. Mannan said he had proposed such a move to the Congress President Mrs Sonia Gandhi and others in writing already.

It was within the Left parties and also within the CPI(M), that there was a non committal response to Mr. Deb’s idea. CPI State Secretary Mr. Probodh Panda said Mr. Deb was no spokesman for the LF . If the CPI(M) really wanted any understanding with the Congress at any level, it should clarify its position. In its last party Congress, the CPI(M) had indicated that it preferred to oppose both the Congress and the BJP for their identical economic and other polciies. It called for a joint front or grouping with other non Congress, non BJP parties instead.

Mr. Udayan Guha of the Forward Bloc said that he had on behalf of his party had suggested accommodation with the Congress and other like-minded anti TMC parties at the local civic elections to CPI(M) leaders. They had rejected his proposals. If Mr. Deb was serious, he should try to carry his own party along with him.

Left parties also felt that the matter should be discussed at the LF level.

Meanwhile, the demoralization and weaknesses within the Front surfaced again. LF Chairman Mr, BIman Bose told newsmen that the programme to gherao police stations in West Bengal to protest against the legal harassment of supporters and workers by the TMC, would begin after a few days, beginning from North 24 Parganas. Workers and cadres would carry out 24 hour and in some cases, 48 hour long programmes, he added.

In fact, the agitation was supposed to have started from mid June itself. But there was little progress because while the CPI(M) had done its homework, constituent parties like the Forward Bloc , the RSP and the CPI had not. The CPI(M) indicated that its cadres were being harassed in 1700-plus cases all over the state. While other parties also alleged such harassment from the ruling TMC in different districts, they could not say in how many ‘false’ cases their workers and supporters had been wrongly implicated. Urging upon them to ascertain and release the facts at the earliest, Bose conceded that this was a sad commentary on how the LF was functioning in the districts. (IPA Service)