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he Left Is Bracing For The Biggest Electoral Blow In Its History. Pundits Predict They Could End Up Being A Bit Player In National Politics, At Least For Now The assembly polls carry great significance for the Left. In Kerala, where the electorate routinely dismisses the incumbent coalition, it is the turn of the ruling Left Democratic Front to be nudged out of office. And in West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee's grand alliance may eclipse the Left Front which has continuously ruled thestate for 34 years. If the results really turn out to be as they are being widely anticipated, it may have serious implications not just for these two states but also for the national political scene. The Left may get reduced to a bit player, clinging on to its last bastion in Tripura. With a single chief minister and that, too, of a state that does not really influence national politics the Left voices could get drowned out. The Left took a beating in the last parliamentary polls. In 2009, its Lok Sabha seats slumped from an impressive 61 to a meagre 24. It holds 22 Rajya Sabha seats, largely because of the three-fourth majority it secured in the 2006 West Bengal assembly poll. But that might change depending on the performance of the coalition in the two states. If the Left goes down valiantly, with its opponents scraping through, it may be in a position to contain the damage in Rajya Sabha. Otherwise, it might end up being a marginalised force, at least for the next five years. In Kerala, despite acute factionalism, the Left need not be too bothered by the Congress coming to power. The southern state has been voting out ruling parties with a degree of inevitability for some time now. A Left defeat will not necessarily require introspection and structural overhaul. Five years later, it will be Left's turn to replace a Congress-led United Democratic Front government. Of course, the feud between the Pinarayi Vijayan and the VS Achuthanandan camps will need to be addressed by the central leadership.

                                                                                                               
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