How else can this complex country be run? With national politics not in a stable bipolar mode but with the country requiring that a few key policies be delivered, change-makers have to tactically use the attractions of political power.

It is satisfying to note therefore that Karat’s CPM may pay for subverting the rules of political business. Minus the whip hand over a government, with the next elections most likely delivering fewer seats in Kerala and perhaps even in Bengal, with the Congress surely having learnt a lesson and the BJP declared a pariah by the Marxists, the CPM may be reduced to being a witness to many deals being made, who knows, may be even the nuclear deal.

Call it carrot’s revenge on Karat.

saubhik.chakrabarti@expressindia.com