New Delhi:
On a day when Mayawati dumped the Left for the UPA, the Left also took a U-turn. The CPM admitted that the people never saw the so-called Third Front as a viable alternative, and this helped the Congress get a clear mandate.
"This alternative was not seen by the people as a credible and a viable alternative," CPM Politburo member Sitaram Yechury said.
Shocked by the drubbing in West Bengal, the CPM also said that minority votes moving away to the Congress cost them dear. Also, the Left could not successfully sell their role in pushing pro-people schemes like NREGA and the Forest and Tribal Acts.
So is it willing to admit withdrawing support to the UPA was a mistake?
"All these things are being discussed. Let's first wait for the state committee reports," Yechury said.
The Left is still saying that they will try for a third space in Indian politics, but their more immediate priority is to recover lost grounds in Kerala and West Bengal.