WB minister calls for action against home secretary

West Bengal home secretary Ardhendu Sen, whose statement on Maoist links with Trinamool Congress put the administration in an uncomfortable position, had more trouble today when a senior minister called for action against him for his remarks.

PWD minister Kshiti Goswami said steps should be taken against Sen for differing with chief minister Buddhadeb  Bhattacharjee on the issue of alleged Maoist links of the Trinamool Congress.

"If for argument's sake it was a slip of tongue, it is different. It is said he had clarified his statement. If he made the statement deliberately, the chief minister should take steps as he is the home minister," Goswami told reporters at the state secretariat.

On November 8, Bhattacharjee had blamed Trinamool for being in league with Maoists. The next day, however, Sen brought embarrassment to the Left government saying the state had no input of such links.

"Sen's view that the government has no information about any political connection of the Maoists with the Trinamool Congress has put the administration in an uncomfortable position politically when the chief minister had said so on the contrary," Goswami said.

Asked if the state government would take action against Sen, he said "he should not have uttered those words when the chief minister had already made a statement."