Midnapore/Kolkata: West Bengal Chief
Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Saturday vowed to drive Naxals
beyond the borders of Orissa and Jharkhand and accused Maoists
of killing over 200 people with the patronage of Trinamool
Congress in one year, a charge rubbished by Mamata Banerjee.
"The Trinamool Congress is hand in glove with the
Maoists and has been protecting the ultras who have killed
over 200 people, mostly poor farmers, in the last one year,"
he told a Left Front rally in Midnapore after reviewing the
situation there.
He, however, said the situation was now changing.
"The people are resisting the Maoists. We have to
resist Maoists who are indiscriminately killing poor and
innocent people almost daily and leaving their bodies on the
roads," Bhattacharjee said and vowed to drive the Naxals
beyond the borders of Orissa and Jharkhand.
The Trinamool chief immediately hit back saying the
chief minister had gone to West Midnapore to protect `harmads`
(armed CPI-M cadre).
"He does not have the courage to step into (Maoist
dominated) Lalgarh. The CPI-M has killed so many that people
are turning away from it. They are even using supari killers,"
Banerjee told reporters in Kolkata, in a reference to her
rally earlier at Lalgarh.
Reiterating her accusation that the CPI-M was using
the joint forces to capture areas in Maoist-hit `junglemahal`
region, she said, "I have earlier appealed to the prime
minister to withdraw the joint forces. I will appeal to him
once again and also to the Union Home Minister to have the
forces withdrawn."
Bhattacharjee said he had asked police and the
administration to ensure that innocent people are not arrested
or tortured and those returning home are rehabilitated.
Making an oblique reference to the Trinamool chief, he
said, "She is used to lying every day and her organisation is
based on lies. She has made it a daily schedule to shout that
a conspiracy has been hatched to kill her. We find it is based
on lies. It is amazing that a party is surviving on utter
falsehood and politics of lies."
Banerjee, on the other hand, said that she would
address a rally in West Midnapore on October 6 and respond to
all allegations against her there.
PTI
