New Delhi/Kolkata: The CPI(M) today accused Home Minister P. Chidambaram of being 'partisan' in questioning West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on alleged role of armed party cadres and said the move was 'motivated' to serve 'political interests' of the Trinamool Congress.
The CPI-M also took umbrage at 'leak' of Chidambaram's letter to Bhattacharjee to the media even before it reached its addressee - the chief minister - calling it as 'unthinkable' and demanded an explanation from him.
"The media is fully briefed about the letter even before the Chief Minister gets it. This shows that the purpose of the letter is to serve the political interests of the Trinamool Congress which is part of the Union Government," the CPI(M) Politburo said in a statement in New Delhi.
It said the media reported in detail the contents of the letter sent by the Minister 'regarding the alleged role of armed cadres of the CPI(M)..... However, such a letter was not received by the Chief Minister till three days later on December 27'.
Maintaining that the media was briefed about the contents of the letter on December 24, the party said, "This is a strange way of communication between the Union Home Minister and the Chief Minister of a state."
The CPI(M) said that the Union Home Minister owed 'an explanation for this partisan approach'.
In his letter, Chidambaram has questioned the West Bengal government on its use of central forces in the state, saying the killing of activists of political parties point to a 'virtual collapse' of law and order there.
His letter came in the wake of ally Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee alleging misuse of central security forces in the state and offering to quit if her charge was proved wrong.
A TC delegation had also met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and conveyed to him their charges about misuse of central security forces in the state. Bhattacharjee said he had received Chidambaram's letter and that he would reply to it.
"I have received the letter. I will give a reply," Bhattacharjee told reporters at the state secretariat in Kolkata, when asked about Chidambaram's letter.
CPI-M state secretary Biman Bose said 'the way the letter, which has reached the state government after 11 o'clock today, has been leaked to media is unthinkable and uncalled for. How can this happen?" Bose wondered, saying the contents of the letter were the same as leaked to the media.
About the contents of the letter which called for disarming of armed CPI-M cadres in the state, Bose told reporters in Kolkata that the Centre should not be 'moving in a partisan manner to help interests' of the Trinamool.
"It is very dangerous. It is wrong to leak the letter to the media. In this the political interests of the Trinamool Congress have been served," Bose, who is the Left Front chairman, said and called the letter 'motivated'.