Bengal CPM blames it on Third Front

“The electorate did not accept the slogan of the Third Front. It got only 78 seats across the country and polled just 21 per cent of the votes,” a press statement issued after the meeting said.

It also said the people voted for Congress because they wanted to see a stable and secular government. “Congress also cashed in on schemes like NREGA and Forest Act,which were in fact passed by the UPA government under pressure from the Left parties,” the statement said.

In the meeting,different leaders attributed the defeat to different factors — from withdrawing support from the UPA in Delhi to forcible land acquisition in the state.

Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee,Industries Minister Nirupam Sen,CPM state secretary Biman Bose were among the important leaders present at the meeting. Significantly,no ‘central observers’ — politburo members from Delhi like Sitaram Yechuri and Prakash Karat — were present at the meeting. Normally,‘central observers’ remain present when the party is dissecting issues of great import.

Analysts said the LF could have suffered a major setback in 1999 Lok Sabha polls,when it polled 46.74 per cent votes. The Opposition — Trinamool,Congress and the BJP combine had got 51.48 percent. But since the two Opposition parties had contested separately,they got only 13 seats and the remaining 29 were bagged by the LF. Analysts said the results could have been reversed if Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee had not left the Congress to create her own party.

At least 13 lakh voters,who voted to reinstate Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee led government in 2006,did not vote this time for the Left. Party insiders also said the corrupt image of the party functionaries is responsible for the erosion of votes. “Many of our committed followers this time have voted for the Opposition,” said PWD Minister Kshiti Goswami.

Biman Bose blamed national factors for the shifting stance of committed voters against the party. “We have to win back the people who deserted us,” said Bose. “Arrogance of our functionaries might have caused the voters to drift away,” said CPI state secretary Manju Kumar Majumdar.

The CPM admitted that it now faces a major challenge ahead of the municipal polls on June 28 and the Assembly polls in 2011.

Following the Trinamool’s victory,the party also apprehended efforts to stall development projects undertaken by the state government. “There can be efforts to create hurdles before the state government and possible attacks on the Marxists. We will have to be ready for that,” the press statement said.

Mamata threatens to resume Singur stir

Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Sunday threatened to resume its movement in Singur for return of 400 acres of land ‘forcibly acquired’ from the farmers. Accusing the West Bengal Government of “quietly” renewing land lease to the Tatas,Banerjee said: “When we were busy with the Lok Sabha elections,the Left Front government quietly renewed the lease of the land to the Tatas at Singur. We will resume our agitation for return of the 400 acre after six of our MPs take oath on Tuesday.” The state government had renewed the lease in Singur though the Tatas had not announced any plan to resume work,she claimed,adding “the Tatas also holds unutilised land in Gujarat and Kalinganagar in Orissa”. “It is unacceptable to us that some people will go on increasing their land holding while another section will not have enough to eat,” Banerjee,the new Railway minister,said. PTI