Given power I would have controlled situation in a jiffy: Mamata

KOLKATA - Railways Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee Friday accused West Bengal’s ruling Marxists of perpetrating unprecedented terror on the people in order to stay in power and claimed she would have controlled the situation “in a minute” had she been at the helm.

“The CPI-M (Communist Party of India-Marxist) is using its goons and cadres to create unprecedented violence in the state. In the last 33 years they have killed so many people. Now in order to stay in power in the upcoming assembly elections they are terrorising common people,” Mamata Banerjee said in an interview to a private Bengali news channel.

Banerjee has in the past repeatedly pleaded for president’s rule in the state claiming that the CPI-M backed goons were killing common people and setting up armed camps in various areas of the state.

“CPI-M will have to answer to the people for its misrule. If I had the administration in my hand then I would have handled the terror situation created by the CPI-M in a minute,” Banerjee said.

Hundreds of people have been killed in political violence in various parts of the state including the Maoist insurgency hit areas in the last two years.

The state is slated to go to the polls mid next year. The CPI-M led Left Front, which has enjoyed an uninterrupted stint in power since 1977, faces a tough test after having lost a series of elections during the past couple of years.