If the parliamentary polls were bad for the Left, civic polls in West Bengal were no better. And for the Trinamool-Congress alliance, the good run continues.

Of the 16 civic bodies that went to the polls, 13 went to the Trinamool-Congress alliance. The Left, which had 10 civic bodies earlier, could manage to win only in three.

"The government should have gone earlier, read the writing on the wall," said Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee.

Already smarting under the Lok Sabha debacle, on Wednesday the Left Front leaders in Bengal offered no explanation for their poor civic polls performnace. But in Delhi, CPI seemed clearly worried.

"These local municipal polls were held soon after the Lok Sabha polls. We immediately had to face other problems like Lalgarh. Our Bengal leaders will come in for the national executive. We will discuss the political situation there," said CPI secretary D Raja.

Many in the Left believe these results once again prove that the Left has to reconnect with the masses if they want to retain West Bengal in 2011 assembly polls.