In Bengal, SP breaks from Left

Nana, close to Mulayam Singh Yadav described the planned 11-party understanding as just a forum to fight the Congress and the BJP and not an election alliance.

The Samajwadi Party has broken away from the CPM in West Bengal, a blow to the alliance these and nine other parties were trying to stitch together.

A Left Front partner in Bengal since 1982, the SP (earlier West Bengal Socialist Party) has walked out and fielded candidates in four seats: Maldaha Uttar (Milan Das), Raigunj (Sudip Ranjan Sen), Birbhum (Prashanta Roy) and Barasat (Kaushik Das Gupta).

This was after a Left Front meeting, where the SP was represented by Janmejay Ojha, and where the party was given no seats.
“If needed we will field candidates in some more seats,” Kiranmoy Nanda, Samajwadi Party general secretary, who had been minister for fisheries in the Left Front government for 20 years, said at the end of the state committee meeting.

He said he has not sent any letter to the Left Front chairman Biman Bose announcing the withdrawal. “We are not bonded labourers of the Left Front. There is no need to tell them formally,” Nanda said.

The CPM said they would take a decision regarding this at a Left Front meeting March 12. “We have heard about their announcement but we won’t make any comment right now. We will take a call on March 12,” Rabin Dev, CPM state secretariat member, told The Indian Express.

Nana, close to Mulayam Singh Yadav described the planned 11-party understanding as just a forum to fight the Congress and the BJP and not an election alliance.

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