The CPI(M), which has demanded a judicial inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the 1995 Purulia arms drop, on Thursday said that the Congress and the BJP have a lot to explain in the matter. The party pointed out that its arch political rival in West Bengal, the Trinamul Congress, was also a member of the Union Cabinet when Peter Bleach was released on Presidential Pardon. “Both the Congress and the BJP-led NDA have in one way or the other allowed this mystery to remain unexplained. This, in itself, gives credence to (key accused) Kim Davy’s allegations,” party politburo member Sitaram Yechury said in an editorial in the party organ People’s Democracy.
Mr Yechury said that while the Congress was “in its typically petty manner crying hoarse that these revelations have come at this time to damage the prospects of its alliance with Trinamul Congress”, Mamata Banerjee herself “was then a member of this cabinet” when Bleach was released.
Mr Yechury , meanwhile, also made a counter attack on Trinamul Congress, accusing the party of “collaborating” with the Maoists to garner support and win elections.
“TMC has open collaboration with the Maoists to garner support and win elections. So this is a contradiction as the Maoists do not believe in our parliamentary democracy system,” Mr Yechury told reporters.
“The leader of the Opposition of TMC has made an atrocious statement... alleging me as a biggest Maoist. The allegations pertain to the incident when I had met Maoist leaders in Nepal and therefore they say I have not merely a soft corner for Maoists but also I myself am a Maoist,” he said reacting to the statement of Partho Chatterjee, leader of the Opposition in West Bengal Assembly, which appeared in some media reports.