The All India Forward Bloc (AIFB) and the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) are cut up that they were not consulted by the dominant partners in the Left Front before they began discussions to extend even issue-based support to the Congress should it form an alternative government at the Centre.

The position taken by the two smaller partners of the left front is turning out to be a major source of embarrasment for the CPI(M) which has its work cut out trying to convince its own cadres about the change in the party line vis-a-vis the Congress. In West Bengal and Kerala where the CPI(M) cadres have for years countered bloody attacks from the Congress, there is a lot of dissent against the stand taken by the party.

What has irked the Forward Bloc is that the CPI(M) which opposed the Congress fordecades, has today turned right round and is offering its support to the Congress.

``For 40 years the CPI(M) has blamed the Congress for its mishandling of the country's economy. In West Bengal, Tripura and Kerala its cadres are locked in murderous battles with the Congress, yet the leadership is talking of supporting the Congress,'' a senior Bloc leader said.

Stressing that the Forward Bloc would continue its earlier policy of maintaining equidistance from the Congress and the BJP, the Bloc leadership feels this is the best strategy against the twin dangers posed by the two ``bourgeois'' parties. Holding the Congress responsible for the rise of the BJP, the Bloc leaders are not willing to even talk to the Congress leadership even if this means the disintegration of the Left Front.