Kolkata, April 29: Once a formidable force in Bengal politics, the CPI(M) is now just a shadow of its past as it struggles to hold on to its ground as the main opposition to the ruling TMC.
The CPI(M) led Left Front, known as the main architect of the Panchayati Raj system since its inception in 1978, used to register hands down victory in most of the zila parishads of the state. But this time it has been struggling to find candidates to file nominations in several seats.
“It is true that in most of the places we have not been able to file nominations. One of the reasons is violence by the Trinamool Congress but there are several places where we had a tough time in finding candidates,” a senior CPI(M) leader said on condition of anonymity.
According to the list of nominations filed by various parties for the panchayat polls, the TMC is way ahead of its rivals in all the three segments of the panchayat polls- gram panchayat, panchayat samiti and zila parishad.
The Left leadership does not have a proper explanation on the BJP filing more nominations than them except the theory of “tacit understanding between BJP and TMC”.
CPI(M) politburo member and MP Mohammed Salim said the number of party candidates should not be measured only in terms of nominations filed, as the CPI(M) is fighting as a Left Front constituent and in several seats it has extended support to secular and democratic independent candidates. But several top CPI(M) leaders agreed that the party needs to stop living in denial by coming up with “lame excuses of tacit understanding between the BJP and the TMC” and pull up it socks to ensure that the BJP doesn’t replace the Left as the main opposition in the state.
“We have lost our mass base, our vote share has decreased. But instead of fixing it up, we are blaming others. We should learn lessons before its too late. Time is running out,” a senior CPI(M) leader said.
A few days back, former Chief Minister and senior CPI(M) leader Buddhadeb Bhattacharya had called for defeating the TMC and the BJP in the rural polls.
Another leader said it did not send the right message to the people that the top brass of the state unit was busy debating the party’s political line at the Hyderabad Party Congress when the cadres faced the heat to file nominations.
The single phase polls will be held at 48,650 seats in 3,358 gram panchayats, 9,217 seats in 341 panchayat samitis and 825 seats in 20 zilla parishads May 14.