Pushed on the back foot by the Netai carnage, the CPI(M) has decided to strike back.
The party will target not just its bête noire Trinamul Congress but will also train guns on the Congress-led UPA government for totally glossing over the former’s links with the Maoists.
The Left parties would launch a nation-wide campaign on this issue. They will also raise it vociferously in Parliament during the Budget session. The decision was taken in the two-day politburo meeting which began in the city on Saturday. On the first day, the coming Assembly elections in five states, particularly those in Left-ruled West Bengal and Kerala, dominated the discussions. The politburo members expressed serious concerns over the escalating political violence. They were particularly upset over the fact that although the party had lost over 350 supporters since the last Lok Sabha polls, it was the CPI(M) which was being put in the dock. “The party leaders felt that the CPI(M) was trapped even in the Netai mayhem by Trinamul Congress and the PCPA,” a party insider said. Almost all politburo members including Mr Prakash Karat, Mr Sitaram Yechury, Ms Brinda Karat, Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, Mr Biman Bose, Mr Nirupam Sen, Mr Mohammed Amin, Mr Manik Sarakar, Mr K. Balakrishnan, Mr G.S.Pillai, Mr M.K. Pandhe, Mr P. Vijayan, Mr Raghabalu and Mr K. Varadarajan were present. They voiced their resentment over the attitude of the UPA government and particularly Union home minister P. Chidambaram. The CPI(M) leaders were annoyed by the fact that the Centre had totally disregarded “clear evidences” of the Trinamul Congress and Maoist relations.
“MP Kabir Suman’s book clearly mentions that Mamata Banerjee held meetings with Naxal leaders at the party office. Recently, a Trinamul Congress leader of Jhargram Karmu Mahato was arrested in Orissa on charges of sheltering and aiding Maoists and being involved in a series of blasts. Even Kanchan has revealed names of prominent Trinamul Congress leaders who helped the Maoists,” party insider added. The politburo was also unhappy over the manner in which Mr Chidambaram had “summoned” Mr Bhattacharjee to Delhi.