Calling the June 4 results a “significant setback” for the BJP, the CPI(M), at the end of its Polit Bureau meeting, in a statement here on Monday, also expressed disappointment at the party’s performance, especially in Kerala, and called for an in-depth introspection at the State level. The Left parties marginally improved their Lok Sabha presence with eight MPs — CPI(M) (4), CPI (2) and CPI(ML) (2).
In Kerala, the Left parties won only one seat, with CPI(M)’s K. Radhakrishnan defeating the Congress’s Ramya Haridas by a margin of 20,111 votes. The Left lost two other seats by a narrow margin. In Attingal, the CPI(M)’s V. Joy lost to the Congress’s Adoor Prakash by a difference of just 684 votes and in Mavelikkara, the CPI’s C.A. Arun Kumar lost to the Congress’s Kodikunnil Suresh by a margin of 10,868 votes.
Jolt in Bengal
In West Bengal, the Left’s alliance with the Congress, which had received a fair amount of pushback from various quarters in the party, again failed. The Left Front failed to win a single seat in the State while the Congress bagged one in Malda South. The All India Forward Bloc and the Revolutionary Socialist Party have already come up with public statements, claiming there can be no future alliances with the Congress in the State.
The CPI(M) called the June 4 results a “significant setback” for the BJP, despite the fact that the elections were held “amid widespread attacks on the Opposition parties, brazen misuse of Central agencies, and massive use of money power”. The CPI(M) also sounded a word of caution for the Opposition, saying that the BJP will try to re-establish “Modi’s hegemony”. “INDIA bloc parties will have to remain vigilant to resolutely oppose and defeat all efforts to strengthen Hindutva authoritarian tendencies and the Hindutva-corporate nexus and to safeguard secular democracy, people’s livelihood, economic sovereignty, social justice, and federalism,” the Polit Bureau statement said.
Published - June 10, 2024 04:56 pm IST
