CPM plays down Nalhati victory

Terming,the party’s victory in Tripura as against all the odds,he said: “At a time,when there is an all out effort to eliminate the CPM,the party has emerged victorious and that too in a comprehensive fashion.” Mishra said the result in Tripura and back home in Nalhati would not let any complacency to creep in. “We are fighting and will keep up the fight,” he said.

Party heavyweight Rabin Deb said he was happy about the Tripura victory and said it was the result of the positive,pro-people steps taken by the government. “Chief Minister Manik Sarkar also maintained a consistency in keeping unity and harmony among the people in Tripura. But the win in Nalhati bypoll in Bengal was more of a result of the broken alliance of the Trinamool and Congress. It was more of a battle between the two parties,” he said.

CPM leaders feel that the policies of the Trinamool government have not gone down well with the people,but they refrain from predicting anything about the outcome of the panchayat election,scheduled for later this year. “It is too early to comment about the panchayat election because we do not know yet if the Congress and the Trinamool would be back fighting together against the CPM,looking at the abysmal result of them fighting singularly,” said Deb.

Rebel CPM leader,Abdur Rezzak Mollah,however said the state unit of the CPM has to take a lesson or two from their Tripura counterparts. “Tripura ministers like Manik Sarkar and Badal Chowdhury have successfully carried the legacy of Nripen Chakraborty and Dasaratha Deb forward,whereas we in Bengal have failed to follow the footsteps of Pramod Dasgupta and Jyoti Basu,” he said.