Kolkata , April 5: Stung by Union home minister P. Chidamb-aram’s plain-speaking (“the buck stops at the chief minister’s table”), West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee retaliated on Monday, saying: “Please mind your language.”
Voicing displeasure over Mr Chidambaram’s choice of words to remind him it was his responsibility to take “stern measures” to ensure law and order, Mr Bhattacharjee said: “The language is not good, it is a slang. I have not heard political leaders using the word.”
The CM said he did not accept what Mr Chidamb-aram said. “Somebody wants to play with words while I have to do work,” the CM added. The CPI(M), in contrast to the CM’s belligerence, tried to downplay the Union minister’s criticism of the state government. But central committee member Mohammed Salim also found fault with Mr Chidambaram’s choice of phrase. “He is fascinated with America... As a home minister, he is copying US Homeland Security practices,” he said.
Kaushik Pradhan