With 6 seats, CPM courtship of ISF causes strain on relations with its old partners
With less than a month to go for the beginning of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the once mighty CPI(M) finds itself tangled in a web of its own making in West Bengal. It is the largest party in the Left Front, whose other members include the CPI, Forward Bloc, RSP and other smaller parties. The Left Front has a seat-sharing arrangement with the Congress in the state as part of the opposition INDIA coalition. It also has a separate seat-sharing agreement with the Indian Secular Front (ISF) that has continued since the 2021 state Assembly polls, when the ISF was launched.