Railway minister Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, unfazed by the combined Left-BJP onslaught over her Lalgarh remarks, strongly defended her stand on Maoists, including her claim that their leader Azad was “murdered”.
“I am proud of my Lalgarh visit and if need be I’ll go again,” she told reporters on Wednesday on her way to New Delhi to attend Parliament from Thursday.
She had to absent herself for 10 days after getting injured when a truck hit her convoy on the way back from Lalgarh. “For the past 10 days, I have not been able to talk to anyone,” she said.
The Trinamul boss also indicated she was not averse to playing mediator between the Centre and the Maoists, as the latter had suggested. “But is up to the Centre to decide what process it wants to follow. I cannot interfere.”
While Ms Banerjee was recuperating in Kolkata, the Left and the BJP launched a scathing attack against her in Parliament over the Lalgarh rally, which they claimed would strengthen the Maoists, and particularly her claim about Azad. Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee flew to Kolkata to persuade her to attend Parliament and make a statement.
But Ms Banerjee, far from being defensive, made it clear she would go on the offensive against her Left and BJP detractors.