In his bid to lob the ball into the Opposition’s court, West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has in his reply to Union home minister P. Chidambaram pointed out that he had asked all parties in Bengal to work together to prevent political clashes but the Trinamul Congress alone “remains non-cooperative”. He
wrote: “All the parties, except Trinamul Congress, have come forward to cooperate. The Trinamul Congress has refused to talk to the administration.”
He, however, conceded: “This is not a happy situation and I am trying my best to stop these senseless killings.” He added: “Maoists have spread from across the bordering states and with the help of small sections of local people are creating problems, mostly in 28 police stations in three districts of Bengal. They are trying to create their own area of dominance. They are indiscriminately killing political opponents and even innocent people.”
He added: “You are fully aware of these activities of the Maoists. The greatest challenge is how to contain the Maoists and defeat them...”
Claiming that in recent times the state and Central police “through their joint efforts have achieved major success, peace and normalcy have been restored in vast areas, and people who were evicted earlier are going back to their homes”, the CM said, “It was the Trinamul Congress which was earlier maintaining secret contacts with Maoist leaders and outfits are now openly organising meetings with them.”