It was classic much ado about nothing.
The much touted Congress and CPM alliance to oust the ruling BJP from Tripura came crashing down on Monday. The Left Front fielded its candidates in all the 60 assembly constituencies–including 6-Agartala where the Marxists put up party stalwart Sankar Prasad Dutta against one of the votaries and architects of the alliance Congress MLA Sudip Roy Barman.
The Left Front had earlier kept aside 13 seats for Congress without attaching much importance to Congress demand. But as the Congress fielded candidates in 16 seats the Left Front made a sudden move on Monday and joined the fray from the 13 seats that were supposed to be of the Congress.
Following the nominations in these 13 seats, now there remained virtually no alliance, no seat sharing between CPM and Congress.
The field is now wide open to witness a multi corned fight and clear vote divisions among the opposition parties giving an effective edge for the ruling BJP.
The CPM volte face came as bolt from blue and shocked the Congress. The alacrity in which the CPM could field their candidates left the Congress in the cold and stunned. All went so fast and surgical precision that even before they could think of joining the polls from 60 assembly seats all was over. In fact, the Congress was not at all prepared for even filing more than 20 seats as it trusted the Marxists.
It may be mentioned that in the last by-poll when CPM supported Congress candidate Sudip Roy Barman unofficially, they fielded a relatively weak candidate. As this time the CPM fielded Sankar Prasad Dutta against the same Roy Barman it also became clear that the CPM was determined to beat him and win the seat, and they were well prepared for the move—the move came to the much dismay of the Congress MLA who took the lead for the alliance.
The CPM decision sent a serious shock wave among the Congress leaders and supporters alike- who now accused the CPM once their bete noir, of being a betrayer.
“We were led the garden path”, said one Congress leader.
“It was a serious mistake that we trusted the CPM”, he added and agreed that the fall of opposition unity would help the BJP to a great extent.
