New Delhi, Jan. 19: With both the Left and the Trinamul Congress bringing their bitter political rivalry to New Delhi on Wednesday, the Union home minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, bluntly directed the West Bengal government to halt all political violence in the state. He told the Chief Minister, Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, who met him for 45 minutes on Wednesday, that armed CPI(M) cadres could not be allowed to take the law into their hands and needed to be reined in.
Speaking to reporters after meeting both the home minister and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Mr Bhattacharjee did not deny allegations of Left cadres being armed in “some areas”. He said his government would disarm all armed groups in the state and ensure that incidents like the recent one in Netai did not recur.
Meanwhile, bringing the bitter political rivalry with the Left to the national capital, the Trinamul on Wednesday held a dharna at the Jantar Mantar, where not only party MPs but also its ministers in the Central government participated and delivered speeches lashing out at the Left Front-led Bengal government.
Later in the day, the party’s MPs called on both the home minister and the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, to draw their attention to the continuing violence in the state allegedly unleashed by the CPI-M cadres.