Will fight political battle outside house: Mamata
By IANSFriday, August 20, 2010
NEW DELHI - Under attack for her statement in Lalgarh questioning the killing of Maoist leader Azad, Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee said in the Rajya Sabha Friday that she would fight her political battles out of the house.
“I will fight my political battle out of this house, I will keep the dignity of the house,” she said.
The railway minister has been under constant attack from opposition parties after she made a statement in the Maoist stronghold Lalgarh in West Bengal questioning Azad’s death in a shootout in Andhra Pradesh July 2.
Replying to a supplementary on the Maoist attack on the Gyaneshwari Express and her support to the Maoists, the minister in a brief reply rejected the statement as being political.
“Those who attacked the Gyaneshwari Express were present in the Lalgarh rally which the railway minister attended,” BJP member Balbir Punj said.
“This question is politically fabricated, not a single (word) of this relates to me,” Banerjee said in reply.
Banerjee also made no comments on the Maoist involvement in the Gyaneshwari Express attack.
“The matter is under investigation, I will make a detailed statement on it when the report comes,” she said.
At least 148 people died and more than 200 were injured when the Mumbai-bound Gyaneshwari Express derailed in West Bengal’s West Midnapore district May 28 this year.
The accident reportedly occurred when the train got derailed due to sabotage of the tracks by the Maoist after which five of its coaches were hit by a goods train.
Banerjee had at that time alleged the accident to be a result of a blast, which was later denied by the government and preliminary investigations.
