“We had to pay for this. The voteshare of the party has reduced primarily for this reason,” said a CPI leader before leaving for Bangalore.

The leaders felt that the Left parties had to face serious setback on the issue of land acquisition. Moreover, malpractices by CPM cadres at the grassroots level led to the isolation of Left supporters as a whole, they added.

According to the CPI, its 70,000 party cardholders across Bengal have been demoralized by the Left Front’s debacle in the last Lok Sabha elections. “If we want to encourage our cadres, we have to take up a separate agitation programme, even against the failures of the state government,” said a leader.

Earlier, the Forward Bloc and the RSP have blamed the CPM for poll debacle.

While the Bloc is trying its best to distance itself from CPM by focusing on its own identity as a political party, the RSP continued to criticise the CPM for the debacle. Smaller partner like Democratic Socialist Party have already demanded early Assembly elections.