Demise of Left will be a disaster for India, we can’t afford it: Jairam Ramesh

Jairam Ramesh said though the Left and the Congress are rivals, it remains a fact that India cannot afford the demise of the Left.

After the ouster of Manik Sarkar-led Left Front government in Tripura Assembly elections, former Union minister and veteran Congress leader Jairam Ramesh has said that the demise of Left will be a disaster for India.

Speaking at a gathering, the Congress leader pointed on the need of the Left being strong in India. He said though the Left and the Congress are rivals, it remains a fact that India cannot afford the demise of the Left.

“Left has to be strong in India. The demise of Left will be a disaster for India. We are political rivals but I am the first to say that India can't afford demise of the Left,” said Ramesh.

He, however, added that the Left also needs to change its outlook with the change in people’s aspirations and society. “The Left also has to change its mind, people's aspirations and society are changing,” said the former Union minister.

In the Tripura assembly elections, which concluded with counting of votes on Saturday, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its ally Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT), a tribal-dominated party, together won 43 out of 59 Tripura constituencies. The BJP on its own won 35 seats, four more than the half-way mark, while its ally IPFT won eight seats.

Following the defeat, Manik Sarkar, who governed the state for almost two decades, resigned as the Chief Minister of Tripura. He was asked by the Governor to continue as the caretaker CM of the state until the new government was sworn in.

The results of the Tripura elections witnessed the decimation of the CPM government in one of the last remaining Left bastions, where the party was in power for 25 years.

The BJP, which had no MLAs in the outgoing Assembly and polled just 1.5 percent votes in the 2013 elections, losing deposits in 49 of the 50 constituencies it contested, secured over 42 percent of votes.

The CPI-M which headed the ruling Left Front was reduced to just 15 seats - down from 50 in the last elections. None of its partners, including the CPI, Forward Bloc and Revolutionary Socialist Party, could open their account.

The Congress, which had 10 members in the outgoing Assembly, drew a blank this time.

(With agency inputs)