Corruption, nepotism and arrogance are the three main reasons for the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M)-led Left Front's dismal show in West Bengal, said Communist Party of India (CPI) general secretary A.B. Bardhan.
Bardhan classified corruption as wholesale and retail.
"Corruption that is there for you to see in Karnataka or Andhra Pradesh or that you see in the centre, that is not the type of corruption which is there. (In West Bengal) the corruption has become more widespread, particularly among the lower ranks and the middle ranks. It's not the wholesale corruption you see which embraces Rs.1,000 crore money but retail corruption," Bardhan told Karan Thapar on the CNBC TV18 programme "India Tonight".
He said the leaders of the Left Front in the state had been blind about the widespread corruption at the lower and middle level for last 10 years.
The local CPI-M leaders were "primarily" engaging in corruption, he said and added that he still has a "lot of faith in the top leaders."
In addition to corruption and nepotism, arrogance of power was also the reason for the Left's debacle, Bardhan said.
"It is arrogance which is more important rather than corruption."
Asked whether arrogance is more widespread, Bardhan said: "Yes, because if you start thinking....it is you who have done everything..then you start behaving and seeming as if you are the man behind it all."