New Delhi: The Left parties on Thursday underlined the need for a “serious introspection” in West Bengal where Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress is set to return to power even as they said that their impressive performance in Kerala was “historic” yet “expected”.
The CPI and CPI(M) also noted the BJP clinched power in Assam for the first time due to “absence of strong secular and democratic” alternative and but said “it needs to be seen how the communal” saffron outfit works in the “sensitive” state.
Both the Left parties said their impressive performance in Kerala was “historic” yet “expected”. Accepting the people’s verdict of returning J Jayayalalithaa’s AIADMK to power in Tamil Nadu, the two Left parties alleged that money power played a crucial role the the southern states to ensure the victory for AIADMK. Without naming any party, they referred to the decision of the Election Commission to defer polls in two Tamil Nadu constituencies following evidence of use of money power.
“We respect the verdict of the people with all the humility in Bengal. We will examine and review the results in in order to draw proper lessons from it. We though salute our comrades, who worked unitedly despite the attacks by TMC,” CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury told reporters here.
Yechury observed the BJP could open its account in Kerala due to vote transfer between the saffron party and Congress. “Similarly, in West Bengal, the BJP benefited due to its match fixing with TMC,” Yechury said.
He though noted the BJP’s voting percentage during the polls shown decline vis-a-vis its 2014 Lok Sabha election performance. He, however, added that the vote share of CPI(M) has remained more or less the same in the state for the party as compared to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. But at the same time he alleged that a reign of terror was unleashed on Left cadres in West Bengal.
“There is no other go. We have to face it. Left cadres stood up to face it, to combat it. Had they not stood up, the results would have been different,” he told a press conference. Yechury claimed that 200 of Left cadres have been killed in West Bengal in the five year rule of Trinamool Congress. “We could not reach out to the people due to this,” he claimed. Another CPI(M) leader, Prakash Karat, said the “big” win for Left Democratic Front (LDF) in Kerala was due to the people of the state having rejected the “corrupt” United Democratic Front government. “LDF has registered a big victory in Kerala because the people have endorsed a platform for a corruption-free government. The people have rejected the UDF government, its misrule and corruption,” the former CPI(M) Gen Secy said. (PTI)
