Mamata challenges Buddhadeb to fight polls from Lalgarh
By IANSFriday, October 29, 2010
KOLKATA - Trinamool Congress chief and Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee Friday challenged West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee to fight the upcoming assembly elections from the Maoist-affected Lalgarh region.
Let the chief minister of West Bengal contest the assembly elections from Lalgarh. Let us see who wins and in whose favour people vote. It is an open challenge. If the chief minister thinks that common people of Lalgarh are with him then let him fight elections from both Lalgarh and Jadavpur constituency, Mamata Banerjee said in an interview to a Bengali news channel.
The Lalgarh region in West Midnapore district has been in the headlines for the last two years as it had turned into a Maoist bastion, and joint forces have been conducting intense operations in the area to flush out the Left wing ultras.
The common people of Lalgarh are fed up with the atrocities of CPI-M, added Banerjee.
The Trinamool Congress chief has been demanding withdrawal of the joint forces from the insurgency hit areas of Bengal, stating that the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) was using the joint forces as a shield to regain its political base in the region.
Maoists are active in three western districts of West Bengal - Purulia, West Midnapore, Bankura.
