In a first, TMC MLAs garland Jyoti Basu's portrait at Assembly

KOLKATA: With not even a single Left legislator left in the state Assembly, the Speaker and Trinamool Congress (TMC) MLAs garlanded the portrait of former Chief Minister Jyoti Basu at the Legislative Assembly on Thursday.

This is for the first time since the first Assembly election held in Bengal in 1952 that no Left leader has been elected to the state Assembly.

Speaker Biman Bandyopadhyay and Firhad Hakim paid floral tributes to Basu, who became an MLA for the first time in 1952 from Baranagar Assembly seat. Basu became the Leader of Opposition in 1957. In 1972, he lost to Shibapada Bhattacharya of CPI in Baranagar. He became the Chief Minister in 1977 and remained in the post for the next 23 years.

Meanwhile, Suryakanta Misra, CPI(M) state secretary, admitted on the party's social media page that it had failed to put up proper fight against the BJP and the slogan 'Bijemul'—hinting at a clandestine understanding between TMC and BJP— did not go well with the people. Interestingly, Misra's statement comes on the 107th birth anniversary of Jyoti Basu, who had always advised the party not to take decisions without carefully studying the pros and cons. The rank and file of CPI (M) have sent a letter to the leaders asking about the fate of Sanjukta Morcha.