Kolkata: The fight between India’s main communist party and Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee over the hijacking of a train by alleged Maoists is now turning bitter.
West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacherjee, a senior leader of the Communist Party of India-Marxist, on Friday alleged Banerjee’s party, the Trinamool Congress, was conspiring with Maoist rebels to dislodge his Left Front government.
Bhattacherjee alleged the Railway Police’s failure to name Maoists in the FIR lodged for the hijacking of the Rajdhani Express train on October 27 proved this.
"The CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force) named the Maoists and the group backed by it in the FIR. Why not the Railways? It is ridiculous that the Railways have said that they did not know who did it," Bhattacharjee told a Left Front rally in Kolkata.
"(Maoist leader) Chhatradhar Mahato's outfit PCPA, which is a creation of the Maoists held up the Rajdhani, but the names of the outfit did not figure in the Railways FIR," he said but didn’t name Banerjee in his speech.
The Railways were trying to shield the Maoists and the group backed by them, he alleged.
"The Trinamool Congress is working with the Maoists to finish the Left Front. They think that they would be able to dislodge the Left Front government by joining hands with Maoists. We will unmask the Trinamool and the Maoist. We take up the challenge," he said.
The Maoist-backed PCAPA (People's Committee Against Police Atrocities) on Tuesday allegedly held up the Rajdhani Express for more than four hours at Banstala Halt near West Midnapore's Jhargram station.
The over 500-PCAPA members squatted on the tracks and forced out the train's drivers at the halt station near the Antapani jungle.
After several tension-filled hours, which saw a police team proceeding to the spot ambushed by the Left wing rebels, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troopers and state policemen finally took over the train.
None of the passengers was injured. The train reached New Delhi on Wednesday night, almost seven hours late.
(With inputs from PTI and IANS.)
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