Apropos the report "CPI-M left with not enough strength to fight TMC: Goutam Deb" (June 20), the prospective plan of an alliance between the Left parties and the Congress - broached publicly by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) or CPI(M) central committee member Goutam Deb - indicates a new political equation in West Bengal. There is no doubt that both the Left Front and the Congress are going through a hard time in state and national politics. The Left Front has suffered several electoral setbacks, starting with the Lok Sabha elections in 2014. Its vote share went down from 39.5 per cent in the last Assembly elections (2011) to 29.61 per cent in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. The Congress has also been cornered in Murshidabad and two other north Bengal districts. On the other hand, the Bharatiya Janata Party's rise in the last Lok Sabha elections has become a matter of concern for both the Left Front and the Congress. The bulk of the minority voters have shifted to the Trinamool Congress (TMC).
In the wake of the growing closeness between West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi - due to the former's concern over the Saradha scam and the latter's impotence in passing important Bills due to insufficient numbers in the upper house - the TMC's minority vote bank might turn their face. The minority vote bank was one of the key factors behind the TMC's successive victories in the past elections.
If the Left Front and the Congress can reach a pre-poll alliance as a secular force in the state, they could win over the minority vote bank. The alliance could pose a formidable threat to the TMC. Above all, a positive approach of a prospective alliance must at least cease the exodus from both the Left Front and the Congress. If this alliance materialises, things will get tough for the TMC in the 2016 Assembly elections.
Buddhadev Nandi Bankura (West Bengal)
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