By IANS,
Kolkata : Standing by United Progressive Alliance (UPA) partner Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, Home Minister P. Chidamabaram Tuesday rejected allegations that she was colluding with Maoists and said no party which believed in parliamentary democracy could play ball with the Leftwing radicals.
“Nobody is colluding with the Maoists. And nobody can collude with the Maoists. The Maoists are fighting the state – the central and state governments. They believe in armed liberation struggle. They call parliament pigsty,” Chidambaram said.
“Therefore, any political party in India which believes in parliamentary democracy cannot collude with the Maoists,” Chidambaram told mediapersons while responding to a query about West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee repeatedly alleging that Banerjee was in collusion with the Maoists.
However, responding to another poser, Chidambaram said Banerjee had told him that the joint forces’ operation in the state’s West Midnapore district was not yielding the results it intended to achieve.
“She has told me that the operation we are conducting in West Midnapore is not yielding the results we wanted to achieve when we started. She has a point of view. I have taken note of it,” he said.
“She is also concerned about innocent civilians getting affected because of the operation. We all agree about this. In fact, there has been no collateral damage at all of any significance. We are operating with great restraint,” the home minister said.