The incident with all its starkness has only served to expose the CPM hand in the political violence going on since preparations for the panchayat elections, held on 28th of last month, got underway. Now the CPM with its partner's blood on their hands might even find it harder to fudge charges of bloodletting during the polls.

According to the RSP leadership, hundreds of CPM activists raided the house of four RSP activists in Basanti Thana in South 24-Paragana yesterday, hacked two to death and threw two others in a fire that gutted over a hundred houses of RSP supporters.

The operation set Left Front partners protesting about the "organised terror and political murders by the CPI(M)."

Senior RSP leader Debabrata Banerjee who rushed to the spot with other leaders later told The Indian Express that it had "notonly hurt the cause of Left unity in the state but also weakened its cause." Banerjee, who is LF minister and the state RSP secretary, vowed not to allow the guilty to go unpunished. Blaming the CPI(M) activists for the killings, Banerjee said on June 3 a top RSP deputation would meet the Chief Minister demanding immediate action on the guilty partymen.

Meanwhile, another LF partner, the Communist Party of India, vehemently condemning the killings, saying, "Such political murders must stop." Manju Kumar Mazumdar, state secretary of the CPI, said the issue of these killings will be taken up in high-level LF meeting scheduled to be held on Wednesday.

Evidently worried over the incident, which is likely to strengthen the Trinamool-BJP charges against the CPI(M), West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu at a high-level meeting issued strong instructions to the rural party leaders "to take initiative to stop this violence once and for all." LF chairman Sailen Dasgupta who also shared Basu's worries asked theleaders to shun violence.

The CPI(M), who had had many disquiet moments with the LF partners over the seat sharing during the run up to panchayat elections, had it most with the RSP leadership. The RSP and the CPI(M) leaders, who exchanged and blamed each other after every meeting eluded 100 per cent adjustment, had already left a bitter taste in the mouth of the LF partners.