Kolkata: In what could be seen as a major boost to party workers ahead of the crucial fifth-phase of polling on April 30, Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPIM) politburo member and former chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya shared the stage with Congress party vice-president Rahul Gandhi at a joint rally in the state.
Gandhi, who was in Bengal to campaign on Wednesday, attended three election meetings in East Midnapore district, South 24 Parganas district and Park Circus in Kolkata.
Bhattacharya, considered the poster boy of the Left parties, has been a reluctant campaigner this election due to falling health and had refused to campaign anywhere outside the city, although his last rally ahead of the third-phase of elections drew enormous crowds.
“He is our star campaigner and the chief architect of the Congress-CPIM alliance. His last rally before the elections in central and north Kolkata had given a major boast to our workers and this time, he will share stage with Rahul Gandhi, showing voters our commitment towards the alliance with the Congress,” said CPIM leader Mohammad Salim.
Congress party members are equally amazed by this development as there was a skirmish during the formation of the alliance as to whether the alliance would be able to bring results.
“Initially there was talk as to whether we could form an alliance. Now, there is talk as to whether we can at all form [and] run a government. This shows how much progress we have made in the last two months and how quickly we have been able to become a real challenger to the TMC,” state Congress party president Adhir Chowdhury said.
Over the past few months, the alliance has become the talk of the state, giving the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) a run for its money.
The fact that the Left-Congress alliance is back in the fight is in itself an incredible political story. A couple of months ago both parties had been despondent about their political survival in the state.
The central leadership was equally coy over the prospect of an alliance as both parties are fighting a fierce battle in Kerala, and not allied in other states either.
But as the ground began to slip rapidly from beneath their feet, the state leadership of both the Congress and the Left realised that if they didn’t fight together to take on the TMC, it would be as good as not contesting the elections.
“In the last five years, TMC has done all that it could do to destroy the Congress. It has cajoled and even bribed our leadership to leave the party and at local level threatened every worker to join the TMC or else was forced to leave the town. This is a critical battle for all of us as it not only threatens our parties but also our very existence,” said Shyamal Das, a CPIM worker.
The state, however, is livid with talk of a hung assembly and many have forecasted a “president’s rule” and a re-election in the next two years.
“The state was never under president’s rule since independence, but with way things are moving, we could be facing that soon,” said Abhishek Sen, a political observer.
