Maoists created by CPM: Mamata

KOLKATA: Not quite being able to decide which side she will finally be on, Trinamool Congres leader Mamata Banerjee has decided to launch an agitation within the next 48 hours, condemning "state-sponsored terrorism in Lalgarh."

The immediate provocation seems to be a comment by chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee,who had alleged that Maoists have "links" with Trinamool Congress. Reacting to this statement of the chief minister made on Friday, Mamata retaliated at a press conference on Saturday saying that "Maoists have been created by the CPM only." She went on to add that Buddhadeb "himself is a Maoist."

"If you search his residence, you will find many Maoist literature there," she thundered. "Why has the CM suddenly launched this operation at Lalgarh immediately after Left Front's poll debacle? Why did the CM not arrest the Maoists at Lalgarh much earlier, when he knew everything? He should be sacked immediately " she said.

The TMC chief said that Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee should have banned Maoists in West Bengal much earlier. "The state goverrnments of Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand and Chattisgarh have banned Maoists outfits long back. What was our CM doing all these days," she questioned at the press conference.

The TMC chief said that neither the central government nor the state government had informed her about the Lalgarh operations. "Now that the central government has intervened in Lalgarh, I urge them to take action against state sponsored terrorism in Garbeta, Mangalkot, Keshpur, Ghatal, Jhargram and other areas," she said.