West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Monday claimed he had got specific information on Trinamool Congress’ link with the Maoists and warned the party not to join hands with it to put the CPI(M) in trouble.
“Trinamool Congress is working together with the Maoists in some parts of the state. I have specific information that it is working with the Maoists at Salbani, Goaltore and Garbeta in West Midnapore district, Sarenga in Bankura and Balarampur in Purulia. I am telling them don’t go that way,” he said.
“Initially, Trinamool had said there was nothing called the Maoists. Maoists and PCPA are hand in glove and we know Trinamool’s connection with them,” he told a Left Front rally organised to protest against rising prices of essential commodities.
Bhattacharjee charged Trinamool with trying to create terror and anarchy in the state. “Whenever there was trouble in a district like Hooghly, I told the district administration to convene a meeting to stop it, but they will not attend it. It will only foment trouble,” he said.
The chief minister said if Trinamool Congress was really trying to establish peace, it would have attended those meetings. “I am still advising it to talk to the government and not to go that way.”
Referring to industrialisation, Mr. Bhattacharjee asserted his government had not forgotten the interests of farmers while setting up industry. “We still want industry in the interest of farmers because they cannot sustain themselves on agriculture alone,” he said.
In an obvious reference to the proposal for setting up a power plant jointly with the Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd at the abandoned site of the Tata Motors in Singur, he said, .
“Both the Centre and the state will work together and set up a project there.”
Officials of the BHEL had inspected the Singur site last week.
Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee had also proposed to set up a rail coach factory at the very site jointly with the state government.
“Shall we not go for steel and petrochemical, electronics, and IT industry which will employ 90,000 people?”, he asked.
Mr. Bhattacharjee also sought to dismiss criticism that the LF government during its 32-year-rule had not done anything....“Had we committed mistake by providing land to poor farmers?”
“The state has become self-sufficient in foodgrain production and we are giving rice to the poor at Rs two per KG. We are trying to make BPL list as correct as possible,” he said, adding condition of the tribals, scheduled castes and Muslims in the state has improved despite false propagonda.
