Mamata cancels London trip

KOLKATA - Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee Friday said she has decided to postpone her trip to London to deliver a lecture at Cambridge University in view of the “political disturbances” in West Bengal.

At a rally in Canning of South 24 Parganas, Banerjee said: “I have decided to call off the trip for now at least, in view of the political disturbances across the state.”

Banerjee was invited by the newly-opened wing of the Department of Political Science of Cambridge University to deliver a lecture on the topic “The Rising Power”, on Oct 23.

She was supposed to stay in London for a week. She had been invited by the British government to see the riverfront in London and hold discussions with the British transport minister on the beautification projects being implemented in the city.

In the run-up to the civic polls in May, Banerjee had vowed to make Kolkata like London.

Blaming the Left Front-led government and its major ally Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leaders for carrying out the “politics of killing innocent people”, the Trinamool chief said: “The political situation of the state at the moment is too vulnerable, and it would not be a wise decision to stay away from the country for such a long time.”

While addressing the rally, Banerjee also hinted that her party can contest the 2011 state elections on its own.

She said: “We have neither the centre nor the state with us. We won the Lok Sabha and civics polls including Kolkata Municipal Corporation elections alone. No one was with us.”

“We are in the centre not at the mercy of anybody but with our 20 MPs who are elected by the people of the state,” she added.

A scuffle broke out between the Trinamool supporters and the CPI-M activists over setting up a gateway on the route leading to the rally venue Friday at Kuchitala near Bothra of Canning.

Banerjee alleged that seven of her supporters were injured in the skirmish. The incident was reported to Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram by Dinesh Trivedi, party MP and union minister of state for health.

“Our meeting was pre-scheduled and the district was also informed but no police personnel were deployed here around the rally venue,” alleged Banerjee.