THE DYING statement of the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) Irrigation Minister Subhas Naskar's nephew's wife Gauri, that bombs hurled by Communist Party of India – Marxist (CPI – M) backed goons set the house ablaze where she received 80 per cent burns may nail the Marxists contention that bombs kept in her house by the RSP had exploded. Such a dying statement would be taken cognizance by a court.

She died in the wee ours of Friday at the SSKM hospital after receiving serious burn injuries in bomb explosions in her home Kumrokhali, in Basanti, South 24-Parganas, a strong of CPI (M) ally in the Left Front the RSP.

There were conflicting versions of the gruesome incident. The RSP claimed that motor cycle borne CPI (M) cadres beat up the womenfolk of the RSP gram panchayat candidate in the area and threw bombs. After this, they proceeded to the house of the state irrigation minister's brother and started hurling bombs. The mud and hatched home caught fire and Gauri rushed out in flames to collapse outside. The house was completely gutted.

Her dying statement, however, may complicate things for the CPI (M).

The two allies have been at daggers drawn, especially since the Nandigram violence and over the Left Front government's insistence in acquiring agricultural land for industry. The RSP state PWD minister Kshiti Goswami had threatened to resign over the violent "recapture of Nandigram" but was persuaded by his party leadership to stay on.

There were serious differences among the allies, especially between the CPI (M) on the one hand and the Forward Bloc and the RSP on the other over seat distribution in the panchayat polls. The difference over the rural polls snowballed into violence on April 14, when South 24- Parganas and four other districts went to the panchayat polls in the second phase. Bloody mayhem was let loose by either side but with the Marxists being the stronger of the two in terms of muscle power, three RSP activists were shot dead while a CPI (M) local leader was killed. The incident of bomb throwing or explosions, whoever may have been the perpetrators, came the day after.

That the fissures have widened considerably and may lead to a split in the Left Front is being hotly debated in political circles. As it is the smaller left partners have always resented the big brotherly attitude of the CP (M) all of 30 years. The partners, including the CPI, had gone ahead and formed a front within the front calling it the mini front.

To add fuel to the fire, Marxist icon and nonagenarian leader Jyoti Basu has chipped in. Deeply disturbed at the disturbances, the Marxist patriarch said on Friday that it was more than time to reshape the alliance with CPI (M)'s partners in the Left Front. He was of the opinion that the relationship, especially between the CPI (M) and the RSP has hit an all time low and needs to be urgently reviewed. Basu felt that a lesson needs to be learnt to avoid fresh violence in the third phase of the panchayat polls.