It is election time in West Bengal and understandably a time to pull some punches at the Congress by the Marxists. Perhaps this was behind Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee targeting Dr Manmohan Singh, who had ranked him as the country’s best Chief Minister. Bhattacharjee on Friday sounded rather unlike himself when he described Singh as a “failed Prime Minister.”

In the ensuing panchayat polls, Congress is a bigger rival to the CPI(M) than the Trinamool Congress. The Congress has under its control two Zilla Parishads of Malda and Murshidabad and is putting up a stiff fight in Uttar Dinajpur and Nadia, this time, under the leadership of Priya Ranjan Das Munshi, Union Minister and West Bengal Pradesh Congress president.

Talking to the media at an interactive session on the eve of the state’s panchayat elections, Bhattacharjee was sharply critical about Dr Manmohan Singh and said: “Unfortunately as the Prime Minister, he is failing to perform. Inflation has hit the country. It is because of his failures that the Congress has been facing the music in several states. The BJP is taking advantage of this,” said Bhattacharjee.

Three-four states have gone to the polls during Dr Singh’s Prime Ministership and everywhere the Congress had been defeated. The BJP is taking the advantage, he said.

Bhattacharjee defended the CPI(M)’s continued support to the UPA-led coalition by saying it was out of sheer compulsion. “It is to stop the BJP-led NDA,” he explained. “We are supporting Dr Manmohan Singh’s Government on certain terms and conditions. When they fail to fulfil those, we will certainly criticise.”

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