A politically volatile yet matured State the political parties of Bengal had never been so unprepared ahead of the "electoral exams" so to say.

This because no political group --- in the tri-cornered contest that Bengal was going to witness these general elections --- seems to be in peace with itself as intra-party or intra-group differences tended delay their declaration of candidates in the coming Lok Sabha elections even three days after the Election Commission of India announced the polls.

While there were still difference in the BJP on the names of 7-8 candidates in constituencies --- despite several rounds of talks --- like Bankura, Medinipur, Krishangar and even Barrackpore the TMC too looked less confident this time round in as many as 30 seats, insiders said adding how the leadership had constituted special committees to navigate the outfit through the polls in all these seats. Thanks to intra-party conflict among leaders.

The stated "Third World" parties in Bengal politics Left, Congress and the ISF which would be expected to take advantage of the situation by promptly fielding candidates too seem not to be at ease even as they reportedly bickered among themselves over the seats.

While the Congress wanted to contest from 10-12 seats --- at least four more than what it demanded from the TMC which had offered only 2 or three seats in return --- from the Left, the ISF led by Naushad Siddiqui with considerable following in the Muslim-dominated districts of South Bengal was reportedly demanding at least 8 seats most of which clashed with the Left strongholds.

It is another matter that both Md Salim of CPI(M) and Adhir Chowdhury of the Congress said that, "soon things would be thrashed out," while Marxist veteran Biman Bose acerbically correcting the media saying "there is no alliance … there is only seat adjustment among the LF, Congress and ISF," adding "there is only an alliance with the Left parties."

Cut to the BJP in that regards. Though the saffron leadership remained tight-lipped sources said that there were problems at different quarters. While in Darjeeling a couple of MLAs have expressed their dissent against "outsider" and sitting MP Raju Bishta, in the Dooars another sitting MP John Barla is reportedly unhappy at not being provided ticket this time round and has been camping in Delhi for that purpose.

Back at Medinipur the flamboyant BJP MP Dilip Ghosh too is reportedly finding it difficult to find support for his candidature in the party with inside reports saying that he is not liked by the likes of Suvendu Adhikari and Sukanta Majumdar. Similarly at Bankura Dr Subhas Sarkar a Union Minister is too facing problems, insiders say. "A large number of party men who had worked hard in 2019 do not want him this time round," said a local leader adding how last year he was locked inside a party office by the angry party men and had to be rescued by the State police."