Mounting pressure on the UPA, a Trinamul Congress delegation that including ministers, MPs and MLAs on Thursday met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and demanded the immediate withdrawal of Central security forces from West Bengal.
The Trinamul, which with 19 MPs is one of the largest UPA allies, wants the government to take immediate action and claims the ruling Marxist government is “misusing the Central security forces”. Central security forces have been deployed in the state to counter the rapidly growing Maoist movement.
The Trinamul was also mounting tacit pressure on the Centre to look at the option of imposing President’s Rule in the state. When asked whether any demand for President’s Rule was made, the Leader of the Opposition in West Bengal Assembly, Mr Partha Chatterjee, who led the delegation, said: “We have explained everything to the Prime Minister. It is up to him to take a decision.” The delegation also submitted a 500-page report to the PM on alleged “atrocities and state-sponsored terrorism perpetrated by the CPI(M)-led Left Front in Bengal”. The PM assured them he would look into the matter and speak to Union home minister P. Chidambaram.
The 11-member delegation was also a show of strength by the outfit, which has joined hands with the Congress to contest the forthcoming Bengal Assembly elections. On
Wednesday, Ms Banerjee had issued a veiled threat that if the Centre failed to act on her demand that Central forces be withdrawn, the alliance between her outfit and the Congress in Bengal might run into trouble. Ms Banerjee said though she did not say her party would contest the forthcoming Bengal polls on its own, it was “for the ally (Congress) to decide”. A section of Trinamul leaders also feel that some top Congress bosses were “keeping their options open for a post-poll tie-up with the Left parties in Bengal”.
The Congress on Thursday, however, downplayed Ms Banerjee’s remarks. “We are also equally worried about the misuse of Central forces in Bengal. She has never said that she would quit on that issue,” party in-charge for West Bengal affairs K. Keshava Rao said.
Speaking in Kolkata on Wednesday, Ms Banerjee had said: “The CPI(M) is misusing Central forces. I would have nothing to say if the Central forces were used against Maoists. If I cannot prove that the Central forces are being misused by the CPI(M), I am ready to quit.”
Mr Partha Chatterjee said: “We expressed our dissatisfaction over the law and order situation in the state.” He said he told the PM that “anarchy was prevailing in the state and the CPI(M) is using Central forces to regain lost political ground.” The top Trinamul ministers and leaders who met the PM include Union Ministers Mukul Roy and Sultan Ahmed. The delegation also expressed concern over the rise in prices of essential commodities, including onions.