It is not very strange that the junior political partners in the Left Front of West Bengal want to enjoy power without sharing any responsibility. They blame the coach and captain and do not say anything about their own batting. This is sheer opportunism.

THERE IS a story in the Aesop’s Fable about a person who deserted his friend when he saw a bear coming to attack them. The friend climbed a tree leaving his friend to the bear to attack, as he could not climb the tree like his friend. The friend lay on the ground like a dead person and the bear left without touching him. The friend came down from the tree and ironically asked his friend on the ground what the bear exactly told him. The friend replied that the bear whispered in his ears: ‘A friend in need is a friend indeed.’

 
This story will come to mind of any person in West Bengal when they hear that the Left Front partners like the CPI, RSP and the Forward Bloc have started blaming the CPI (M) for the debacle. This behaviour is like that of the person who deserted his friend in time of danger and climbed the tree without bothering about his friend’s safety.
 

These junior political allies want to enjoy power without sharing any responsibility. They blame the coach and captain and do not say anything about their own batting. This is sheer opportunism. It is surprising why these parties are still given votes in one or two seats. Most of the leaders in these parties are very much aged and not in a position to work. There is not a single young leader in these parties, each head being bald or grey.
 
Another story is also there. This is the famous anecdote of Kalidas who cut the branch on which he was sitting. The CPI leader Nandadulal Bhattacharjee or the Forward Bloc leader Kshiti Goswami started criticizing the CPI (M) leaders for their egotism and pride as if they were sitting in the Opposition bench. These leaders have enjoyed power for the last three decades along with CPI (M). But now with the party being weak in the wake of the TMC-Congress alliance and victory in the recent Loksabha election, these party leaders have certainly realised that they should not have played under the CPI (M) captaincy.
 
These parties have no role in the governance except providing support with a few seats. But they bargain hard for berths in state governance and later put pressure in any excuse taking advantage of the fishy situation.
 
This kind of things should immediately stop. In the UPA ministry formation also these things are noticed. The DMK should feel that they have too few numbers of seats in the Parliament to bargain so hard. People are already disrespectful of such attempts to create instability in the governance. They have punished parties, which have tried to destabilise the government on even an important issue like the Nuclear Deal. The DMK is giving support to the UPA from outside simply because still they need Congress support to prevent their state government from being a minority in the state assembly.
 
The same kind of pressure is put by the junior partners of the Left Front government in West Bengal. This is not only discourteous but also a kind of selfishness and irresponsibility. As long as these parties are in the Left Front they should remain united. Otherwise their condition will be same like Siddiqullah or Md. Safi whose election deposit has been forfeited in the recent election. People despise this kind of betrayal and vote against them. Parties which either flatter or backbite at the time of crisis cannot and should not exist.