With many CPIM leaders unhappy, will ISF-Left alliance last in West Bengal?

A section of the senior leadership of the Left, many of whom lost an election for the first time, including Ashok Bhattacharya, Kanti Ganguly and Tanmoy Bhattacharya, openly questioned the acceptability of ISF in the alliance.

In West Bengal, the newly formed Samyukta Morcha with the CPI(M), the Congress and the Indian Secular Front, a new platform launched by Muslim cleric Abbasuddin Siddiqui, won only one seat in the 2021 elections. The Trinamool Congress led by Mamata Banerjee swept the polls. This would be the first time in Bengal's history that there would be no Congress or Left legislator in the Assembly. A section of the senior leadership of the Left, many of whom lost an election for the first time, had questioned the alliance with the ISF. Ashok Bhattacharya, the former urban development minister who lost the Siliguri seat, Kanti Ganguly, another former minister who lost the Raidighi seat in South 24 Parganas and Tanmoy Bhattacharya, who lost the North Dumdum seat in North 24 Parganas were the ones who openly questioned the acceptability of ISF in the alliance. “The alliance with the ISF must be reviewed. Was it accepted by people? Those who impose decisions from the top must be accountable,” said Tanmoy Bhattacharya. The veteran leader was show-caused by the party for his comments.