Why's PM mum on TC Lalgarh rally, asks CPM

NEW DELHI: Fuming over the Manmohan Singh government’s silence on Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee’s Lalgarh rally, CPM on Thursday accused it of “brazen political opportunism” for remaining in office.

“Since two days, the government has been avoiding a straightforward answer to the growing evidence of a political collaboration between the Trinamool Congress and the Maoists as could be seen in the Lalgarh,” CPM polit bureau member Sitaram Yechury told reporters here. Alleging that the government required the numbers of the Trinamool Congress for its survival, he said the prime minister owed an explanation on how his government could continue with the “marriage of convenience” after Ms Banerjee, a Cabinet member, had openly alleged that a Maoist, killed in an encounter, was murdered.

He said that a day after the government tried to duck the issue saying it will return to both Houses of Parliament after ascertaining facts, the minister of state for home in a reply in Rajya Sabha said that investigation conducted revealed that PCPA, a “frontal organisation of Maoists”, was involved in damaging the railway track causing the accident.

Mr Yechury said that Maoist leader Kishenji had once again “batted for Ms Banerjee” by agreeing with her stand that Azad was killed. On Ms Banerjee’s absence from Parliament, he said “she finds a way into a nursing home whenever she is in a political tight-spot...We wish her speedy recovery. Let her come back to explain.”