Communist Party of India (CPI) today conceded that the West Bengal Assembly poll verdict was a "setback" to the Left parties and the state, and that their electoral alliance with the Congress did not work.
"I think this understanding between the Left and the Congress did not work. We could together get only 35-36 per cent of votes. Somehow, I think the votes might not have got transferred," CPI General Secretary Suravaram Sudhakar Reddy told PTI here.
He said the Assembly poll results were "negative result". "We have to go for a serious review...why, in spite of a joint effort, it did not give confidence to the people of West Bengal to bring the alternative despite misrule, corruption and arrogance of Mamata Banerjee. We feel it's a negative result and setback to Left and West Bengal," he said.
He said the electoral understanding between the Left and Congress was a "limited understanding" with a limited purpose to defeat Mamata Banerjee, who today returned to power with a thumping majority.
"That's what we tried but it did not work," Reddy said.
However, asked if he thought it was a mistake to join hands with the Congress, he said he did not think so.
"I can't come to such a conclusion immediately. We have to discuss as to what went wrong. I am not ready to rush to a conclusion that it was a political mistake. It did not work. Why it did not work, we have to review," Reddy said.