Left leaders in West Bengal have sounded caution asking the state's Marxists to spare a thought for the late Jyoti Basu who used to stress on the need for mutual respect among the coalition partners.

CPI leader Debashish Datta told Deccan Chronicle that the Left Front had to pay a heavy price for the CPI(M)'s “big brother attitude”.

“We cannot agree to one-party dominance and there should be Samantha and Samman (equality and respect),'” he said.

Senior RSP leader Manoj Bhattacharjee said the CPI(M) should not think its allies were insignificant.

The RSP leader felt that in its eagerness to forge tie up with parties like the TDP, BSP, AIADMK and Samajwadi Party, the CPI(M) pushed the left unity agenda to the background.

"Though these parties are secular, they adopt neo liberal policies, and hence an alliance with them cannot help in safeguarding the interests of the poor,” he said.

Forward Block state secretariat member and former minister Hafiz Ali Sairani recollected how the Left Front used to work as a cohesive unit during Jyoti Basu's time. "Jyoti Babu used to respect the allies and heard what they had to say. However, during the previous government's tenure, the CPI(M) had tried to impose its will on many occasions,” he said.

Sairani said that apart from weakening the coalition, the CPI(M) had also committed political mistakes. "There was a feeling among the poor, the downtrodden and the struggling people that the LF Government was not in their favour,” he said.