Three days before the second-phase of polling in Bengal, former chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee appealed to the electorate to vote for the Samyukta Morcha comprising the Left Front, Congress and the Indian Secular Front to save the state.

"The Left Front, Congress and ISF have formed an alliance against authoritarianism and communalism. Only this alliance can bring the the state out of this darkness," Bhattacharjee said in a signed statement issued on Monday evening.

Battling ill-health for long, Bhattacharjee has largely kept himself home-bound in the 10 years since his defeat in Jadavpur in the summer of 2011. This year, he stayed away from the Brigade Parade ground rally where the Left, Congress and ISF had pledged to contest the polls jointly.

"There is graveyard's silence in Singur and Nandigram. Those who conspired then are now busy trading charges at each other. The opportunity of gainful employment is lost. Our children are moving to other states," said Bhattacharjee.

The former chief minister's statement came at a time when the debate over the Nandigram firing was rekindled by his bete noire Mamata Banerjee, who blamed her former confidantes, the Adhikarys of Contai.

Bhattacharjee, who also held the home department while he was chief minister, had denied any order to the police to enter Nandigram on March 14, 2007. Many in social media apologised to the septuagenarian former chief minister.

"In these 10 years Bengal has slid. The youths dream of getting jobs have crashed, education is in shambles, healthcare is out of the reach of the poor. Corruption, extortion, syndicates have made life difficult for the people," Bhattacharjee said.

"The grassroots approach to development during the Left Front has been destroyed. The atmosphere of secularism is poisoned," he said, expressing confidence that the youth of Bengal will take the opportunity to bring about a turnaround in the state.