A day after Union home minister P Chidambaram spoke of the existence of camps of armed cadre in West Bengal's West Midnapore district, the CPI(M) today admitted it did have them but said they were for people evicted from their homes by Maoists.
"Our party is working in 'junglemahal' [the Maoist belt]. But that does not mean we have set up armed camps there," Bose told newsmen when asked to comment on Chidambaram's statement.
Stating that the people of the area were 'unitedly' resisting Maoists, Bose, who is also Left Front chairman, said, "We had to open some camps to accommodate those who have evicted from their homes [by Maoists]."
Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee refused to comment on Chidambaram's statement.
At a press conference in Delhi yesterday, Chidambaram had said that the Centre had information about the existence of several armed camps in West Midnapore district and cadre from these camps were moving around with weapons. He hoped that the state government would take steps to rein them in.
Yesterday, CPI(M) central committee member Mohammad Selim described Chidambaram's remarks as 'baseless' and a result of the compulsion of coalition politics.
Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee has demanded Bhattacharjee's resignation, saying he had violated the Constitution by allowing armed cadre to operate camps.
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