Vote Left, Basu urges Congress supporters

KOLKATA,1st November, 2009 : The Trinamool Congress has taken to the path of violence and terror and is in league with Maoists, veteran CPI(M) leader Jyoti Basu said here on Sunday even as he appealed to supporters of the Congress — an electoral partner of the Trinamool Congress — to back Left Front candidates in the November 7 bye-elections for ten Assembly seats. “The main Opposition party (Trinamool) is pursuing the path of killings and of terror…..The Trinamool and the Maoists are together (in carrying out such acts),” he said in a statement.

The State was going through dangerous times, he said and appealed to Congress supporters to back the Left candidates for the sake of “peace, order and development.”

“I am telling those who support the Congress that we (the Left parties), in the interests of the country, had supported the Congress against communalism,” Mr. Basu said, referring to the Left backing from outside for the previous United Progressive Alliance government at the Centre.

His remarks come a day after Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee came down on the Trinamool for its alleged links with left-wing extremists and said the party chief Mamata Banerjee — who is calling for the withdrawal of the joint security operation against the Maoists in the State — should approach the Prime Minister and the Union Home Minister (who feel the need for such an operation) with her demand.

“Our (the Left parties) workers are being killed every day. Those being murdered include doctors, nurses, police personnel and ordinary people. Party offices are being set ablaze. The Trinamool and the Maoists are together. They are taking the law into their own hands,” Mr. Basu said.

Pointing out that sections of traditional Left supporters voted against the Left Front in the last Lok Sabha elections “when the results for us were bad,” Mr. Basu admitted that “the fault was not with them” for not backing the Left.“We could not take our message properly to the people. Besides, in certain areas we had made mistakes,”