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After setback, Left against early LS polls
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ASIANAGE on 04 July, 2008 02:39:17
 
By SUBRATA CHATTOPADHYAY
Kolkata
July 4: Shocked by the municipal election setbacks, the CPI(M) state leadership
as well as the Left Front allies are dreading early Lok Sabha elections as they
fear that if the present public mood as reflected in the panchayat and civic
polls persists, the CPI(M) would lose 20 Lok Sabha seats. On state CPI(M)
secretary Biman Bose’s request, party general secretary Prakash Karat is
arriving on Saturday to get acquainted with the views of the state leaders.
The state unit is not in favour of general secretary Prakash Karat’s decision
to withdraw support immediately over the UPA government’s contact with the
IAEA. They want to persuade the party chief to buy time to overcome the rural
and urban poll setbacks.
The state party leaders have understood that chief minister Buddhadeb
Bhattacharjee’s overzealous ind-ustrial drive and land acquisition policy had
caused wide-spread anger among the people in the state. "This hostility is not
confined to villages alone as was prov-ed by the civic polls where the CPI(M)
lost four municipalities," a party leader said.
Mr Bose has requested Mr Karat, who is arriving on Saturday, to talk to the
state leaders and listen to their point of view. The party leadership is even
planning to arrange a meeting between Mr Karat and veteran leader Jyoti Basu,
who had always advocated that the UPA government should be allowed to complete
its tenure. "The party has failed to remove the people’s misgivings about our
industrial policy and if elections are held now, we will face serious trouble,"
a senior leader said.
He said that the party should first accelerate public relations exercise rather
than going for aggressive campaigning against the nuclear deal. "The people in
the villages and small towns are not bothered about the Indo-US nuclear deal,
but they are certainly concerned about agriculture and land."