CPM Tries To Figure Out Why Violence Broke Out Despite,Repeated Assurances

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Kolkata: West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb
Bhattacharjee, under siege within the ruling Left
Front and facing fire from CPM patriarch Jyoti Basu,
has received solace from party boss Prakash Karat.
Karat flew here on Sunday to firm up his defence
amid fears about an adverse countrywide impact after
indications of CPM hand in Wednesday’s massacre.
“He is an elected chief minister. He will remain
chief minister,’’ Karat said after a meeting the CM.
“I came here to take stock of the incidents since
March 14. The issue will come up in our politburo
meeting,’’ he said before calling on Basu ahead of the
politburo meeting on March 31.
Initially, the CM was not in favour of police
action but later came to terms with party leaders in
East Midnapore. CPM, therefore, isn’t putting the
blame entirely on him though he has taken the
responsibility, fuelling rumours that he might step
down.
Before the politburo meeting, CPM state secretary
Biman Bose will find out why the CM’s message that his
government won’t insist on setting up a chemical hub
against the will of villagers couldn’t reassure them.
According to sources, 226 party members had left
the area to take shelter elsewhere and there was no
one to carry the message to the people. Also,
influential district secretariat member Laxman Seth
didn’t take the CM’s message seriously. Instead, he
was keen on getting his followers back to the villages
and resume land acquisition at a later date.
Bose snubbed Seth for putting the party in the
dock. Seth had allegedly asked his henchmen to join
the police operation to retaliate against the
opposition onslaught.
“The villagers are relieved. They now know that the
government won’t acquire their land. Earlier, they
were afraid that the government’s assurance was only a
ruse and that land would actually be acquired at a
later date,’’ CPI MLA Mohammed Iliyas said.
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