West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has delivered what he said was “a fitting reply” to Union home minister P. Chidambaram’s salvo at him. Dismissing outright the Mr Chidam-baram’s contention in the letter sent to him in which he virtually ordered the CM to disband the armed cadres of the CPI(M), and called them “harmad vahini”, the CM, replied that Mr Chidambaram’s observations were “surprising and far from impartial”.
“Mr Bhattacharjee said: “I strongly object to your using the word ‘harmad’ (hired killers) to mean the CPI(M) party workers without knowing the meaning of the nasty word coined by the Trinamul Congress.”
For Mr Chidambaram, however, the morale booster came from Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee when she justified the home minister’s use of the word harmad. In an obvious insinuation, she said, “Harmad is a word which has become symbolic over the ages for those who unleash atrocities, go on looting sprees and torture innocent people, including women.”
The Left Front has accused Mr Chidambaram of toeing Ms Banerjee’s line.
She is a crucial component of the UPA coalition at the Centre and has been amping up the charges against the Left Front as her home state gears up for Assembly elections.