Bengal told to ensure security for Trinamool team to Lalgarh

October 14th, 2009 KOLKATA - Railway Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee Wednesday demanded withdrawal of central forces from West Bengal's troubled Lalgarh region. "I want the central forces to be withdrawn from Lalgarh as the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M)-led Left Front government in the state is torturing innocent villagers in a name of (anti-) Maoist operations there," she said.

July 28th, 2009 LALGARH - A Trinamool Congress team, including two union ministers, reached here Tuesday to get a first hand idea of the situation after security forces were deployed to flush out Maoist rebels from this trouble-torn belt in West Midnapore district. Minister of State for Shipping Mukul Roy, Minister of State for Rural Development Sisir Adhikari and Leader of Opposition in the state assembly Partha Chattopadhyay were part of the delegation.

July 22nd, 2009 KOLKATA - Railways Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee Wednesday demanded an end to the joint security operation against Maoist rebels in the trouble-torn belt of Lalgarh in West Bengal. "The joint operation should stop," Banerjee said and emphasised the need for talks with Maoists to solve the issue.

July 21st, 2009 KOLKATA - A three-member Trinamool Congress team will visit troubled Lalgarh in West Bengal July 28 to study the situation in and around the enclave, where security forces are carrying out operations to flush out Maoist ultras. Making the announcement at a hugely attended "Martyrs' Rally" in the hub of the city, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee Tuesday said the delegation will comprise union Minister of State for Rural Development Sisir Adhikari, Minister of State for Shipping Mukul Roy and Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal assembly Partha Chattopadhyay.

June 30th, 2009 KOLKATA - The legislators of West Bengal's main opposition Trinamool Congress Tuesday walked out of the state assembly, protesting against "atrocities" by the joint security forces on innocent villagers of Lalgarh during the operation to flush out Maoists. Trinamool members were upset after an adjournment motion called by a party member on the issue was rejected by Speaker H.A.

June 29th, 2009 KOLKATA - The central government should carry out a statewide operation by deploying central forces to recover illegal firearms from different parts of West Bengal, Railways Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee said here Monday. "The Centre should take up this responsibility and conduct operations to recover illegal firearms from across the state," she said.

June 28th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Bringing to the fore fissures in West Bengal's ruling Left Front, alliance partner Communist Party of India (CPI) has said the state was being run as "a one-party government more or less" and the rise of Leftwing extremism in Lalgarh was due to "neglect". CPI general secretary A.B.

June 21st, 2009 KOLKATA - The West Bengal government, which has launched a massive security operation to free the troubled zone of Lalgarh from Maoist rebels, Sunday urged the tribal agitators there to cooperate with the administration in restoring peace. Briefing mediapersons after a meeting of the core committee formed to review the progress of the security operation in the area under West Midnapore district, state Chief Secretary Ashok Mohan Chakraborty said: "Central and state forces don't want bloodshed or violence.

June 21st, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Left parties Sunday appealed to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to ensure that the joint operations against the Maoist rebels in Lalgarh of West Bengal are not adversely complicated by utterances and actions" of some ministers. We have learnt through media reports that some members of the union council of ministers are proceeding to visit the affected areas and are making public comments which are adversely complicating the operations against the Maoists, said the letter written by the four parties.

June 21st, 2009 KOLKATA - The West Bengal government Sunday appealed to central and state ministers, NGOs, intellectuals and journalists to stay away from the troubled zone of Lalgarh saying it was not in a position to provide security to them in view of Maoist activities in the area. "The central and state security forces are there.

June 18th, 2009 LALGARH - The West Bengal Police, supported by central paramilitary forces, initiated the operation to flush out Maoist from Lalgarh in West Midnapore District of West Bengal. It was the forth day, since the red brigade captured nearly fifty villages in and around Lalgarh, which is nearly 150 Km from the state capital Kolkatta, and declared it as the liberated zone.

May 21st, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Trinamool Congress Thursday demanded the imposition of president's rule in West Bengal, alleging there was complete breakdown of the constitutional machinery and people had lost confidence in the Left Front government there. 'The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M)-led Left Front government has to come to an end in West Bengal.

April 14th, 2009 KOLKATA - The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) faces a tough fight in the Lok Sabha elections but would get a majority of seats in West Bengal, the party's general secretary Prakash Karat said here Tuesday. 'We will have a tough battle in the elections, but we have faced situations in the past when the opposition had virtually come together without an alliance,' Karat told reporters in response to the Congress and Trinamool Congress joining hands in the state.

March 25th, 2009 KOLKATA - Police will carry out a combing operation to sniff out Maoist rebels from the tribal-dominated Lalgarh region of West Bengal before the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, an official said Wednesday. 'We will be sending police forces to Lalgarh before the April-May elections to search out Maoists guerrillas in the region so that polls can be conducted in the district peacefully,' West Bengal Home Secretary Ardhendu Sen told reporters here.

March 3rd, 2009 KOLKATA - West Bengal's main opposition party Trinamool Congress Monday expressed dissatisfaction with the state's voting schedule announced by the Election Commission. The poll panel Monday declared that the Lok Sabha election in northern Bengal will be held April 30.