Doubts over continuation of Cong-Left Front bonhomie in Bengal

Kolkata: Apprehensions are rising in the political circles in West Bengal over the future of Congress-Left Front electoral bonhomie in the state over twin factors.

While the first factor is the Congress announcement on Saturday night declaring Subhankar Sarkar as the new state president of the party, the second factor is the recent and untimely demise of the CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, whose replacement is yet to be announced by the party leadership.

Sarkar, known to be a soft-paddler in state and electoral politics, is unlikely to be vocal on the independence of the West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee (WBPCC) about policy decisions at the state level and argue forcefully about continuing the electoral amenability with CPI(M)-led Left Front in the state, which exactly was the distinct feature of his predecessor and five-time party Lok Sabha member Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury.

Political observers feel that the manner in which Chowdhury fought his way out against the wishes of his party's high command to establish the electoral understanding with CPI(M) before the 2016 Assembly elections and continued with the same till the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, is unlikely to be followed by Sarkar, whose role so far in the state politics and his party has been limited to that of an articulate theoretician.

Secondly, while Chowdhury was quite uncompromising about his die-hard anti-Trinamool Congress stand in state politics, Sarkar so far has maintained a neutral role on this issue.

Rather, feel political observers, Sarkar’s appointment as the new state president of the party is likely to pave the way for a smooth Congress-Trinamool Congress understanding in West Bengal.

On the other hand, feel observers, Yechury’s untimely demise has left the CPI(M)’s Bengal line virtually guardian-less as regards its independent line of bonhomie with Congress at the state level, especially when the country’s oldest national party is the arch political rival of CPI(M) in Kerala.

CPI(M) insiders in West Bengal admit that the party’s state unit could not have maintained its independent line of electoral understanding with Congress unless Yechury had been strongly backing that state-specific line even going against opposition from other state leaderships, especially from the party’s south lobby.

Now in this case, feel observers, if the CPI(M) leadership chooses any existing politburo member from Kerala as Yechury’s successor, chances of which are quite high, chances of Congress-Left Front bonhomie in West Bengal will fade out more.