Left Front fractured over Singur-Nandigram

KOLKATA: Differences between the CPM and its three minor Left Front partners — Forward Bloc, RSP and CPI — are widening amidst the protracted Singur land imbroglio and Nandigram violence.

The CPM is doing its bit to bridge the gap and towards this end, the party’s state secretary and Front chairman Biman Bose had convened at least six meetings of the Front during the past one and a half months. The Left Front met thrice in May alone.

The meetings were held on May 7, 15 and 26. Till Wednesday, three meetings of the Front were held on June 2, 9 and 20. However, the differences between the CPM and its three partners is far from over.

The CPM was particularly upset after the three minor constituents had threatened to quit the coalition Front government, in the aftermath of the March 14 Nandigram killings. The Forward Bloc, CPI and RSP had refused to shoulder the responsibility of the Nandigram carnage and held the CPM solely responsible.

Ever since, the CPM’s been trying to keep the Front united by holding meetings with partners very frequently. Arithmetically, the CPM shouldn’t face any problems in running the government without the support of its partners. This is since the CPM has alone captured 176 of the total 294 seats in the West Bengal Legislative Assembly (WBLA). The party’s absolute majority in the state legislature will undoubtedly help the CPM maintain command over its tiny partners.

But the CPM doesn’t want any split within the Front as the three-tier panchayat elections is due in 2008. Veteran CPM leader Jyoti Basu who is considered a champion in maintaining unity within the Front, is also averse to a split within the Left Front coalition.

Be that as it may, on Wednesday, Forward Bloc state secretary Ashok Ghosh dubbed the Singur rehabilitation package announced by the West Bengal commerce and industry minister Nirupam Sen as “hollow” and said “there was nothing new in it”. Mr Sen had announced the package only on Tuesday.

The key constituents used to blame the CPM for not holding meetings of the Front regularly when Anil Biswas was secretary of the CPM. These Front partners were also very vocal against the CPM and used to complain that most of the key decisions were taken by the CPM unilaterally without consulting the Front partners.

The situation had changed significantly after Mr Biman Bose was elected CPM state secretary following the death of Biswas. It is Mr Bose who has taken the initiative of convening the meetings of the Front regularly and consult all the partners before taking any decision.

But the three key constituents are still unhappy with the CPM. They are still opposing the CPM and it is very likely that the four Front constituents, CPM, CPI, RSP and Forward Bloc, may contest against each other during the 2008 panchayat elections.