Left Front for more efforts to improve the lot of people

KOLKATA,21 May,2009: Stung by the reverses it suffered in the Lok Sabha polls, the Left Front in West Bengal has called for greater urgency on the part of the State government for extra initiatives in improving the lot of the people.

“Efforts will have to be made at the political level too to bring back to our fold those who had turned away from us,” Biman Basu, Chairman of the Left Front Committee, said here on Thursday after leaders of the different constituents of the Left Front met to review its performance in the elections.

The Left Front’s share of votes was 43.3 per cent (a total of 1,85,03,157 votes) while that of the Trinamool Congress-Congress electoral combine was 45.67 per cent (1,90,70,604 votes). “It is clear from these figures that a large section of the people had supported the Left Front,” he said.

One of the lessons learnt by the Left Front from the outcome of the elections was that the State government, its Ministers and the administration, be more active in initiating programmes to solve the problems of the people, Mr. Basu said.

In what could be construed as a tacit admission that not just national but also State-specific factors were responsible for the dismal performance of the Left parties, Mr. Basu conceded that there might have been certain important programmes of the State government that could not be completed within the stipulated time. “All Ministers should look at implementing the programmes of their respective departments and check to see whether they were being initiated properly.”

It was decided at the meeting that the different Left Front constituents would review their respective performances in the elections after which bilateral talks would be held. “The common issues that will emerge will subsequently taken up at the next meeting of the Left Front,” Mr. Basu said.

In reply to a question on the reported demand of the Trinamool for the dismissal of the State government and imposition of President’s Rule in the State that would pave way for early Assembly elections, Mr. Basu wondered what the “basis” of such a demand was. He also vehemently denied that the Left Front had sought President’s Rule in 1977, as claimed by the Trinamool. “They [the claims] are all lies.”

Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee presented before the meeting a report on the post-poll law and order situation in the State.