KOLKATA: The emerging strategy within the CPM in West Bengal in this Lok Sabha election is that the party should make its way up to be counted as a strong Opposition and then project itself as a winning candidate for the next Assembly polls.
“This year we are campaigning in such a way that we can emerge as a strong Opposition and in the next Assembly election, we should be able to form the government,” said Saira Shah Halim, the CPM candidate from South Kolkata constituency.
The Left Front ruled West Bengal for seven consecutive terms 1977–2011, five with Jyoti Basu as Chief Minister and two under Buddhadev Bhattacharya. The CPM was the dominant force in the alliance.
Halim’s remarks came at a panel discussion under the aegis of Kolkata Dialogues organised by this newspaper.
One of the participants in the discussion, veteran cardiac surgeon Dr Kunal Sarkar, however, felt that the current Lok Sabha elections do not hold any special significance for Bengal as the narratives of all political parties was almost similar. “They are all fighting for their own existence,” he said.
Other members of the panel thought that freebee politics played an important role in elections in every state and that this Lok Sabha election was not an exception.
Professor of Political Science at Presidency University Dr Zaad Mahmud said although the state lacked infrastructure and employment generation plans amid a series of scams, there are still “60% chances” of TMC getting an edge. “In districts, people are still happy with the schemes that have been offered by the ruling Trinamool.”