BJP has taken full advantage of people's anger against Cong: Left

The Bharatiya Janata Party has taken full advantage of the anger of the people against Congress and its policies and complete absence of a non-Congress, non-Bharatiya Janata Party alternative in the Lok Sabha polls, Left parties said on Friday.

“The anger of the people against Congress and its defunct policies, which led to price rise and unemployment went to the advantage of BJP,” said Communist Party of India national secretary D Raja.

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He said that though there was talk of a non-Congress, non-BJP alternative, its complete absence also favoured BJP. Echoing Raja’s views, CPI(M) leader Nilotpal Basu said that anti-Congress mood in the people was taken advantage of by BJP, which fought the elections on a ‘strong platform’ with Narendra Modi as the prime ministerial candidate.

On the rout of the Left in West Bengal, Raja said the Left parties have got a 30 per cent vote share even in this election but was leading only in one seat, whereas Congress and BJP had around 10 per cent vote share each but are winning in four and two seats respectively. “This is the weakness of our election system and the Left parties have been raising the issue of electoral reforms for a long time,” he said.

He said that despite large-scale rigging, booth capturing and violence in West Bengal, Left garnered 30 per cent votes. Both Raja and Basu said that their respective parties would have ‘ruthless self-introspection’ of the election results. Basu said, “In Kerala we have improved our position while in Tripura we have scored a handsome victory.” Raja said that the Left would have to do serious introspection, reinvent itself and rework its strategy both in Parliament and outside.