West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Monday admitted receiving Union home minister P. Chidambaram’s letter and said he would send a befitting reply. At a party rally at Dum Dum, Mr Bhattacharjee claimed Mr Chidambaram had sent the letter at the behest of the Trinamul Congress. “In Delhi, Congress and Trinamul have a joint morcha and Mr Chidambaram has written this letter to please his partner,” he said.
Dropping broad hints about the content of his proposed reply, Mr Bhatta-charjee said he would remind Mr Chidambaram that in the state the Trinamul and the Maoists also had a joint morcha. “Does he also support this joint front? If, as Union home minister, he supports this front, then it will spell doom for the country,” he added. “The media is fully briefed about the letter even before the CM gets it. This shows that the purpose of the letter is to serve the political interests of the Trinamul...” the CPI(M) politburo said. “This is a strange way of communication between the Union home minister and the CM of a state,” it said. It added that the “leak” to the media was an “unthinkable” happening and demanded an explanation from Mr Chidambaram.