Kolkata: Amid speculation whether top
Maoist leader Kisheji was dead, West Bengal Chief Minister
Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee Friday night stated he has heard about the
same and that the Maoist leadership was now divided.
"I also heard about it (Kishenji is dead). The Maoist
leadership is now divided. They (Maoists) are now cornered,"
he said.
Posters alluding to `martyrdom` of Kishenji found by
the police have intensified speculation over whether the
Maoist top leader, who has not made any public appearance for
eight months, is dead.
"Change has taken place in some areas of West
Midnapore and Bankura where people are resisting the ultras,
but recently in Purulia the Maoist problem has aggravated.
They have kidnapped two persons. We are trying to free them
although we have not yet succeeded", Bhattacharjee told a TV
channel here.
"Politically we have achieved some success but the
situation is still tough," he said.
He also rubbished Trinamool Congress` charge that CPIM
`harmads` (goons) were killing people in the guise of joint
forces.
Bhattacharjee said that his party indirectly
benefited from the operation of the joint forces but "it is
wrong to say that joint force were sent to give benefit to
us".
Not only in West Bengal, central force was sent to
Jharkhand, Orissa and Chhatisgarh to combat the Maoists, he
said.
On Union Home Minister P Chidambaram`s assurance to TC
leaders that the role of the joint force would be inquired,
Bhattacharjee quipped, "What will he say? They don`t have time
to listen to all these bogus things. Those who are directing
the joint force are not so foolish".
PTI
