We will defeat Maoists in West Bengal, asserts Buddhadeb

November 1st, 2009 KOLKATA - Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Sunday retorted to various allegations by West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacherjee and accused him of having links with the Maoists. ddressing a press conference in Kolkata, Mamata said: "I think that the Marxists and the Maoists are both sides of the same coin.

October 30th, 2009 KOLKATA - West Bengal Chief Minster Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee Friday said that his government would not tolerate the violent acts carried out by Maoists in West Bengal. He also urged people to consolidate protest against the Leftwing ultras and condemn the political forces which were supporting these extremist groups in the state.

October 24th, 2009 NEW DELHI - West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee Saturday described the swap of women arrested on charges of being Maoist sympathisers with an abducted police officer as an "exceptional decision" and asserted that his government has not "surrendered to Maoists". "This was an exceptional decision taken on humanitarian grounds," the chief minister said here after meeting Home Minister P.

October 22nd, 2009 KOLKATA - The Maoists on Thursday released abducted West Bengal police officer Attendranth Dutta at Domohini forest. The Maoists had abducted Dutta, when they had attacked Sankrail Police Station in West Bengal's West Midnapore district on October 20.

October 12th, 2009 NEW DELHI - West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee Monday said central paramilitary forces needed to stay longer in the state to end Maoist violence. After a meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh here, the chief minister said it was "difficult" to protect the area bordering Jharkhand, from where the Maoist cadres operate.

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.

August 17th, 2009 KOLKATA - The Maoists have called an indefinite shutdown in three tribal-dominated districts of West Bengal from Tuesday, police said here Monday. "An indefinite shutdown has been called by the Maoists in three districts -- Bankura, Purulia and West Midnapore from tomorrow (Tuesday)," West Bengal Inspector General (Law and Order) Surajit Kar Purkayastha told IANS.

June 29th, 2009 KOLKATA - West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has told his Cabinet colleagues that his government would not indiscriminately use the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, under which the Centre banned the Communist Party of India (Maoists). PWD Minister Khiti Goswami has quoted Buddhadeb as saying at a meeting of the Cabinet Core Committee formed to tackle the Maoists problem in the state.

June 24th, 2009 KOLKATA - West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has said that there was no need for his government to announce a separate ban on Maoists after the Central government's recent order. "The Central law is appropriate and can be enforced in all parts of the country.

June 23rd, 2009 KOLKATA - The West Bengal government Tuesday said the central government's decision to extend the ban on the Communist Party of India-Maoists under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act was also applicable to the state. "This act is applicable in the whole country.

June 22nd, 2009 KOLKATA - Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee Monday accused West Bengal's ruling Left Front of being in cahoots with the Maoists saying the Communists had used the rebels to win the polls in the western districts. "The Left used Maoists to rig the elections and now they are saying Maoists helped the Trinamool.

June 20th, 2009 BANGALORE - Spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar Saturday said Maoists in West Bengal's Lalgarh are willing to sit at negotiating table if their basic demands for water and electricity are met. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, who is the founder of the Art of Living foundation, Friday talked to rebel leader Chakradhar Mahato and asked the group to lay down their arms.

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 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.

April 2nd, 2009 NEW DELHI - A majority of people in West Bengal believe that Tata Motors moving out of Singur is not good for the state, and many have given the electoral thumbs down to Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, whose sustained anti-land acquisition campaign forced Tata to move the Nano plant to Gujarat, according to an opinion poll. The poll conducted by NDTV news channel says that West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee is the most popular leader in the state and is likely to retain his post.