The general elections were worst for the Left Front since 1977 with the party managing to secure only two seats out of 42 in the State. Adding insult to the injury was the victory of two turncoats within the party, who deserted the Left for the ruling party, Trinamool Congress (TMC).
With these two persons, the Left also lost its chances to grab two additional seats. Dasarath Tirkey, formerly with the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP), won Alipurduars constituency, and Sunil Kumar Mondal, a former leader with the All India Forward Bloc (AIFB), won Bardhaman Purba. They both have now become TMC MPs.
Mr. Tirkey and Mr. Mondal, MLAs of Kumargram and Galsi respectively, had made their true intentions known during the Rajya Sabha elections, when both decided to vote for the Trinamool candidate causing great embarrassment to the Left.
Eventually, they both were rewarded by the TMC as they got tickets to contest the Lok Sabha elections.
With Mr. Tirkey bagging Alipurduars the RSP lost its stronghold in the constituency for the first time. Blaming the Trinamool for trying to garner support of regional parties, senior RSP leader Kshiti Goswami said, “We don’t think about him [Mr. Tirkey] any more. The Trinamool is trying to bring all the regional parties under its wing so that it won’t have to sit on the opposition benches. The party knew Alipurduars was a strong constituency and this is how they managed to grab this seat away from us.”
Defending his decision to contest on a Trinamool ticket, Mr. Mondal said, “The Left never allowed me to work freely in development policies in my constituency. I tried to open a drinking water facility and public toilets at the bus stop at Panagarh in Bardhaman district. All the necessary work was completed, but panchayat officials under the Left refused to sanction electricity at both the facilities. How could I continue working for a party which does not let me serve the people?”
Mr. Mondal alleged that the Left panchayat officials refused to provide him with the money sanctioned to him by the Trinamool government to build a mini indoor stadium at Kanksha bloc in Bardhaman.
Prabodh Panda, senior leader of the Communist Party of India, said, “Such turncoats have no ideological commitment. Such people only want to go wherever there is power.”
