CPI-M to analyse Bengal defeat: Yechury

The CPI-M said on Thursday it will analyse its electoral defeat in West Bengal and whether its decision to ally with the Congress was right.

"We respect the verdict of the people of West Bengal," party general secretary Sitaram Yechury told the media here.

"We will examine the reasons and review these results as far as the Left Front's poor performance is concerned and the tactics we adopted there," he said.

Despite opposition from a section within, the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) allied with the Congress to take on the ruling Trinamool Congress. In the end, the Left got fewer seats than even the Congress.

The CPI-M leader also accused the Trinamool of unleashing "terror and intimidation" on his party cadres even during the election.

"Four of our comrades were killed during the campaign. Even today, at the counting centres, there were clashes," he said adding that his party's "brave cadres" stood up to the violence and threats unleashed by the TMC goons.

"The Left Front campaigned for the restoration of democracy and peace in the state, facing terror and intimidation. Had our brave cadres not stood up to the politics of violence and intimidation in West Bengal, the tally would have been worse," Yechury said.

The Left leader attributed BJP's entry in West Bengal and Kerala to its "match fixing" with the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in West Bengal and the Congress in Kerala.

"In West Bengal, the BJP's vote percentage has declined from 16.84 in Lok Sabha polls to 10.2 in these elections. Clearly, the BJP was able to win some seats thanks to vote transfer by the TMC," he said.

In Tamil Nadu, Yechury said the Left and its allies got squeezed out because of the bipolar politics.

--IANS

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