Click to play videoKolkata: The Communist Party of India-Marxist-led West Bengal government after having lost face over its recent land acquisition controversy of the Vedic Village now says it doesn't want IT majors like Wipro and Infosys to leave the state.
Following the Vedic Village fiasco CPI-M suffered another blow on Tuesday when the party lost the municipal elections in Siliguri at the hands of the Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress and Congress alliance.
After the loss in Siliguri even Left leaders are admitting that after more than three decades in power, anti-incumbency has now firmly set in West Bengal.
"We are in power for over three decades. Naturally, a new generation is now in place which is unaware of our previous struggles and contributions, who do not want to spare time to understand why we adopted certain principles in our political life," says Revolutionary Socialist Party leader Kshiti Goswami.
But it is not merely anti-incumbency or changed preferences of new generation voters that the Left is fighting against. CPI-M workers are being killed by Maoists almost everyday and land acquisition continues to remain the biggest enigma for the state government in its drive for industrialisation.
The recent Vedic Village fiasco that prompted Left leaders to advise the government to walk out of the IT township deal has raised fresh questions over Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government's policies.
With IT majors Infosys and Wipro whose promised lands in the project area is gone, the party and the government are now desperately looking for an escape route.
"The state government has said that it has not rejected Wipro and Infosys. It has only said that it is unable to carry on with the project in the manner it initially wanted to," says Left Front Chairman Biman Bose.
Ironically, the man who was once seen as the Left's saviour, Buddhadeb, is keeping a low profile since the Lok Sabha defeat.
Some say he is suffering from depression, a charge which his supporters deny.
With the Kolkata civic polls the next challenge and Assembly polls coming up in less than two years, the Left is facing the seemingly unthinkable scenario of its red fortress being breached and perhaps conquered.
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