Hours after West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said in New Delhi on Wednesday that he had suggested to Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram, when they met earlier in the day, “in no uncertain terms” that the latter tell leaders of the Trinamool Congress that they “must dissociate” themselves from the Maoists, the Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee alleged here that it was Mr. Bhattacharjee who had brought the Maoists into West Bengal.
“How else is it that so many Maoists have come [to the State]? He must have brought them here,” Ms. Banerjee told journalists.
“For the past 35 years, they [the Communist Party of India - Marxist)] have held on to [political control of] the Paschim Medinipur, Purulia and Bankura districts with the help of the Maoists,” she said.
She accused the CPI(M) of “capturing” places such as Keshpur and Garbeta in Paschim Medinipur district with the help of Maoists who had set up training camps there.
“Let there be an inquiry into this by the CBI…This is a small challenge of mine,” she said.
“Who has been killing people with the Maoists? Who has set up training camps for the Maoists? Who has provided them with guns?” she asked in her tirade against the CPI(M).
On Mr. Bhattacharjee's remark that his government was firm on “disarming all armed groups operating in the State, including at Jangal Mahal”, Ms. Banerjee said that he would have to face “punishment” for “the injustices and killings.
