Conceding that the Third Front, an exercise largely initiated by the Left parties, was not seen as ?a credible and viable alternative? by the people, the CPM on Tuesday sought to take credit for the impressive Congress performance in the Lok Sabha polls, saying ?what stood the Congress in good stead were some of the measures adopted by the UPA government like the NREGA, the Forest Tribal Act and other social welfare measures which were pushed through under Left pressure.?
In a statement, the CPM politburo said ?the Congress party also gained more support amongst the minorities and sections of secular-minded people who were keen to ensure that the BJP does not make a comeback.?
While the Bengal comrades are blaming CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat for the poll rout, the party central leadership is in no mood to play the role of a fall guy. So the politburo, while admitting that election-eve alliances forged in some states backfired, said that ?national and state specific factors? were responsible for the fiasco.
After a post-mortem, the central leadership has taken the blame for failing to read the national mood in favour of the Congress. Without naming the Third Front, it admitted that the alliance with some non-Congress, non-BJP parties was a
flop show.
?The Left parties had allied with certain non-Congress, non-BJP parties in various states. This was required so that a secular electoral alternative emerged. However, these alliances forged in some states on the eve of the elections were not seen by the people as a credible and viable alternative at the national level,? the politburo said in its
initial assessment.