The CPI(M) bears no responsibility or obligation to revive the declining career graph of Mamata Banerjee, a party leader said, making it abundantly clear that the Left will have no truck with arch-rival Trinamool Congress in West Bengal. In a statement issued on Wednesday, the West Bengal Chief Minister had sent out an appeal to the Congress and CPI(M) to join forces to fight the Bharatiya Janata Party.

While Mamata made it clear that there was no need for the parties to form an alliance and that the three parties could put up a formidable opposition to the BJP in its plans to “subvert the Constitution”, the message was clear that Mamata was looking at a UP-like alliance for the Assembly elections due in the state in 2021.

Speaking in the state Assembly on Wednesday, Mamama had called upon the CPI(M) and the Congress to unite against the BJP. “I have apprehensions that the BJP would change the Constitution of India. I think all of us, including the Left and Congress, should join hands to combat the BJP,” she had said.

In a curt response to Mamata’s call, CPI(M) leader Md Salim said she has lost the moral right to even call for a fight against the BJP in Bengal. “We can’t say about the Congress, but CPI(M) is under no compulsion of saving
Mamata Banerjee’s career. She has lost the moral right of even giving this call of fighting the BJP in Bengal. The TMC does not have any credibility to fight fascism,” he said on Twitter.

Mamata’s call for a united front against the BJP has been seen as the first open admission by Mamata that the BJP’s rise in the state has unsettled her deeply. The proposal has been floated by Mamata amid a wave of defections which have hit the TMC following the declaration of the Lok Sabha election results. Six legislators of the Trinamool Congress have joined the BJP since the general elections.

Besides legislators, the TMC has been plagued by the exit of a horde of Zilla Parishad members. The influx of these members into the BJP is said to be the BJP’s gameplan for the local body polls scheduled for next year. The BJP hopes to make significant gains in local bodies and set the stage for the bigger battle in 2021.

In the Lok Sabha elections this year, the BJP saw its tally increase from two seats in 2014 to 18 of the 42 seats in 2019. Their vote share also went up from 17.2% in 2014 to 40.3% in 2019. Post-poll surveys showed that the traditional vote base of Left had completely sided with the BJP in these elections.

While the CPI(M) has signalled it will have no truck with Mamata, the elections are still a long way off and the civic body polls could tilt the scales either way. If the CPI(M) allies with the TMC, the party it fought bitterly and lost its Bengal citadel to, it will be the second such drastic experiment in recent times after the one in Uttar Pradesh. The elections saw bitter rivals Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party of Mayawati join hands to challenge the BJP but failed miserably.