Nov. 9: Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Monday said that chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s "irresponsible and provocative" statements led to the killing of four EFR jawans in West Midnapore. "Eight persons, including four EFR jawans were killed due to the chief minister’s irresponsible and provocative speech at Debra," she alleged.
Ms Banerjee was addressing a meeting after leading a procession from College Street to Esplanade to protest the CPI(M)’s "reign of terror". The rally totally disrupted the traffic for several hours in north and central Kolkata.
Ms Banerjee was referring to that part of Mr Bhattacharjee’s speech where he vowed to combat the Maoists with a heavy hand. She threatened also to file a defamation suit against Mr Bhattacharjee for alleging that the Trinamul Congress was helping the Maoists kill the CPI(M) supporters. "How dare he makes such a comment. I will ask Kalyan Banerjee (MP and legal cell head) to file a defamation suit," she added.
Ms Banerjee claimed that she was a follower of Gandhi but it did not mean that she harboured any hatred for Marxism or Leninism. She vehemently denied that her party had any links with the Maoists.
She claimed that her 100 party workers were killed in the past one month. Criticising the chief minister for his failure to stop political violence, she dared him to hold the Assembly election and see the result.
‘no Trinamul, Maoist link’
Nov. 9: Just a day after chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee accused the Trinamul Congress of being hand-in-glove with the Maoists, home secretary Ardhendu Sen on Monday categorically said that they had found no such link between the Maoists and the Trinamul Congress. "We have not gathered any inputs that could ascertain the links between the Maoists and the Trinamul Congress," Mr Sen said.
AGE CORRESPONDENT
Kolkata