Pranab, Chidambaram at loggerhead over Lalgarh?
Suri (WB): Refusing to comment on the statement of Union Home minister P Chidambaram about Lalgarh in troubled West Midnapore district, Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Friday night said he would talk to his ministerial colleague about it.
"I should not comment on someone else's views. Moreover,
on the basis of media reports. Mr. Chidambaram is my colleague
in the ministry. I'll talk to him," Mukherjee told reporters
in reply to a question at Miriti, near here, in Birbhum
district.
Recalling the deployment of paramilitary forces in
Lalgarh in June, Mukherjee said, "The Centre and West Bengal
government together took some initiatives to bring back peace
in the troubled 'jangalmahal' area (forested parts of West
Midnapore, Purulia and Bankura). And the central force is
there."
Mukherjee was asked by reporters to comment on his
cabinet colleague Chidambaram's expressing concern over the
"pretty depressing" situation in Lalgarh, the Maoist
stronghold in West Bengal where the state government has
failed to contain the movement of the ultras.
"I am disappointed over the Lalgarh situation...The
situation is pretty depressing...despite adequate number (of)
Central paramilitary forces (being) sent to them in June 2009,
the West Bengal government has not been able to contain the
problem," Chidambaram earlier told reporters during his
monthly interaction in New Delhi.
PTI