Two killed in West Bengal political violence

October 11th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Left Front government in West Bengal is not willing to hold talks with the Maoists unless they abjure violence, Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) politburo member Biman Bose said Sunday. "How can we talk with the Maoists who have declared war against the state and its people?" Bose countered to a question about the possibility of the state government holding talks with the rebels.

June 22nd, 2009 KOLKATA - West Bengal Chief Secretary Ashok Mohan Chakraborty has said a nexus exists between Maoist and civil liberties groups in West Bengal. Talking to reporters here on Sunday, Chakraborti said, "NGOs like the People's Committee against Police Atrocities (PCPA) have emerged as the frontline organisations of Maoist groups.

June 22nd, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) Monday said it was against a ban on the Leftwing outfit Communist Party of India-Maoist and the rebels should be tackled instead through political and administrative measures. Reacting to the union home ministry's declaration of the CPI-Maoist as a terrorist outfit, CPI-M general secretary Prakash Karat told reporters here that the "Maoists must be combated politically and administratively".

June 18th, 2009 AGARTALA - Maoist violence and the ensuing tension in West Bengal should be dealt with administratively, ideologically and politically, said Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar, who is also a senior Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader. "The Left movements in Bengal and across the country are matured enough and have full strength to tackle the Maoist hostility and associated enmity in Bengal," Sarkar told newsmen here Thursday before leaving for New Delhi for a CPI-M politburo meeting.

June 17th, 2009 New Delhi/Kolkata, June 17 (ANI): The Left on Wednesday blamed the Trinamool Congress-Congress combine for the naxal attacks in West Bengal that claimed the lives of three Communist Party of India (Marxist) leaders earlier today. CPM politburo member Brinda Karat said: "The TMC-Congress combine is responsible for the violence that has broken out in West Bengal.

June 17th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Home Minister P. Chidambaram has said the government is "worried about the consequences" of the violence in West Bengal where three activists of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) were killed by suspected Maoists Wednesday.

June 17th, 2009 NEW DELIHI - The Congress Wednesday said the Maoist violence in West Bengal is condemnable but is the result of prolonged misgovernance and subversion of democracy in the state by the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M). What Maoists are doing is condemnable....it is the result of misgovernance and the mistakes that the Left have done during its regime of 32 years in West Bengal.

June 12th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Congress Friday said the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), which had alleged "semi-fascist" attacks on its cadres in West Bengal, has been the real perpetrator of unprecedented violence in the state for more than two decades. "If at all violence has been perpetrated in West Bengal, it has been by the left party and the workers of the Congress and the Trinamool Congress (TMC) have been at the receiving end of the this violence," Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari told reporters.

June 9th, 2009 KOLKATA - Condemning the recent poll-related violence in West Bengal, Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi Tuesday said such "purposeless violence" was "a matter of regret". "Reports of violence between supporters of different political formations in the wake of elections in our state are a matter of regret.

June 6th, 2009 KOLKATA - Railways Minister Mamata Banerjee Saturday alleged that 22 activists of her Trinamool Congress were killed by Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) cadres in West Bengal since the Lok Sabha elections. "At least 22 members of our party, including Judhistir Dolui who was brutally hacked to death in Hooghly district, were killed by ruling CPI-M supporters in post-poll violence.

May 16th, 2009 KOLKATA - Rejoicing at her victory in West Bengal, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee Saturday said despite so many brutal killings and the Left's efforts to stop people from voting, 'we have won'. 'This victory is that of the people despite the attempts of the CPI-M, the party that killed our political workers,' Banerjee told reporters here.

May 7th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The fourth round of Lok Sabha elections Thursday witnessed a 57 percent voter turnout, but the polling was marred by clashes mainly in west Bengal, including reports of four dead in poll-related violence, a senior election official said here. 'Overall, for all the states, we can put the voter turnout tentatively at 57 percent.

April 30th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The third phase of Lok Sabha elections Thursday was largely free of extremist violence, unlike the previous phases, the Election Commission said here. 'There were many polling booths under the the 10 Naxal-affected parliamentary constituencies in West Bengal (7) and Bihar (3),' Deputy Election Commissioner R.

April 16th, 2009 KOLKATA - West Bengal's ruling Left Front Thursday expressed apprehension about violence during the first-phase elections in 14 constituencies in the state April 30. The state's northern part, which has witnessed several agitations demanding separate states, and the wewstern districts of West Midnapore, Bankura and Purulia - where Moaists have some presence - go to the polls in the first round.

March 7th, 2009 KOLKATA - Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) senior leader L.K. Advani Friday said the Congress and the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) have an 'unwritten agreement' in West Bengal and in national politics.