Married In West Bengal, Divorced In Kerala

The CPM, which claims to be a party of principle and ideology, has done the unthinkable in politics. Showing the utter confusion and lack of options within the party, it has decided to support the Congress in West Bengal. Now it will be the junior partner to the Congress in the state. This is a great comedown for the party that has ruled West Bengal for over three decades.

But the confusion does not end there. The CPM that is friendly with the Congress in West Bengal, will oppose it tooth and nail in Kerala. So, Congress is a bourgeoisie in Kerala but progressive in West Bengal. It will be communal in Kerala but secular in West Bengal. In Kerala, the CPI sees Congress and the BJP in collusion, while in West Bengal, it feels the Congress is in collision with the BJP. It's in love with the Congress in West Bengal but in Kerala, they are bitter rivals.

Interestingly, in the last assembly elections in West Bengal, the Congress and the Left were in alliance and it failed disastrously. Post elections, the CPM admitted that it was a wrong move as both are ideologically opposed. But, the same thing that is not OK five years ago is OK now. Politics, as they say, makes strange bed fellows.