This Article is From Apr 18, 2011

West Bengal polls: Veterans pitch in to save Left

West Bengal polls: Veterans pitch in to save Left
Kolkata: Veteran Communists who distanced themselves from the Left in the last few years are now coming to the aid of the party in West Bengal as it goes to the polls from today.

After Somnath Chatterjee, who is scheduled to campaign for a CPM leader, former finance minister Ashok Mitra has publicly appealed for support to the Left.

Mitra had distanced himself from the CPM after he quit the Jyoti Basu government in 1986.

He had made a name for himself by his strident opposition to Congress's economic policies. He has now called on Bengal to vote Left so Congress could be contained.

"The Left has to survive for the sake of India and the Left can survive only if the Left Front marches from strength to strength here," Mr Mitra said.

After he quit the government, Mitra was very critical of his party, the CPM, especially on Singur. But with Trinamool promising parivartan, he is back pleading the Left cause.

"We are here to do the parivartan. After all, we as Leftists believe in the revolution and what does the revolution mean? Complete change of the social structure. There can be no greater parivartan than that," he said.

When asked if Mr Mitra is back on the campaign trail for the Left, he said, "Ashok Mitra was never away from the campaign trail of the Left. Ashok Mitra was born Left, Ashok Mitra has lived Left through his entire career and Ashok Mitra will die Left."

The Left clearly has a friend in Mitra, a bonus as it faces its toughest electoral challenge in three decades.

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