Centre must look into violence in West Bengal: Mamata Banerjee

KOLKATA - Expressing her displeasure at the spurt in violence in West Bengal, Railway Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee has appealed to Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to take stock of the matter and bring an end to what she calls “lawlessness” of the state government.

Talking to reporters here, Banerjee said: “Centre should come clean on the issue and the measures they are taking against the Left Front government for unleashing violence in the state.

“I do not survive in politics at anybody’s mercy and asked him (Mukherjee) if they have lent support to the state government in spreading violence in the state by CPM,” Banerjee added.

“If CPM has the courage, I challenge them to hold elections tomorrow. I am sure people will throw them out,” she said.

She further claimed that a six-volume report detailing the ongoing violence in Bengal has been sent to the Central government to establish her demand for Centre’s intervention in maintaining law and order in the state.

She also alleged that around 55,000 people had been killed during the Left rule in the state and around 2,000 TMC party workers were killed in the past year alone.

‘Being an ally of the United Progressive Alliance government, we feel it is our duty to inform the central government about the situation,’ she said. (ANI)