Yechury flays Mamata for bracketing CPI(M) with Maoists

In a stinger to Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee for bracketing his party with the Maoists, CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechury today said anybody with knowledge of history would not have said this.

''If somebody knows history, has read history, he or she cannot say this,'' Mr Yechury told reporters here.

He said though Naxalites had split from the CPI(M) in the sixties, ''for years their main target is the CPI(M).'' Ms Banerjee had alleged yesterday that Maoists and Marxists(CPI-M) were the ''opposite sides of the same coin''. She had also demanded that the CPI(M) be banned.

Mr Yechury also contested the observation of some quarters that the joint security operation launched in the state's Lalgarh belt in West Midnapore district to flush out Maoists had failed.

''They have arrested People's Committee Against Police Atrocities leader Chhattradhar Mahato. Earlier, you used to say why he is not being arrested,'' he said.

''And now that Mahato has been taken behind bars, you are saying why CPI(Maoist) leader Kishenji is not being arrested,'' he said.

Ms Banerjee's diatribe against the CPI(M) followed the persistent CPI(M) campaign holding the Trinamool Congress responsible for being hand-in-glove with the banned Left ultras. In a series of meetings, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee had directly accused the Trinamool of acting as a partner of the Maoists in triggering violence, killing Marxist supporters and trying to destabilise the Left Front government.

His government also reportedly lodged a complaint with Union Home Minister P Chidambaram in this regard.

The Chief Minister had also indicated that the Trinamool Congress was a party to the plan for the recent hold-up of Bhubaneswar-New Delhi Rajdhani Express near Jhargram in West Midnapore district.

-- (UNI) -- 02CA40.xml

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