Considering that all’s not well between the Congress and the CPI(M), the Union home ministry is likely to turn down West Bengal CM Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s request.
Soured relationship between Congress and Left may be the reason
KOLKATA: Considering that all’s not well between the Congress and the CPI(M), the Union home ministry is likely to turn down West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s request for central forces to quell violence in Nandigram.
Earlier this week, Bhattacharjee called up Union home minister Shivraj Patil seeking central forces for Nandigram. State home secretary Prasad Ranjan Roy also wrote to his counterpart in the Centre, Madhukar Gupta, requesting a battalion of 600 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel for Nandigram.
State government officials said the Union home ministry is not likely to send the CRPF force to West Bengal. Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi, Union minister for information and broadcasting and an MP from West Bengal, has written a letter to Patil opposing deployment of central force to the state. Acknowledging that the Centre is obliged to send central forces to a state in “extraordinary situations”, Dasmunshi said in the case of Nandigram, CRPF personnel should not be sent as the Union government would be blamed for any untoward incident.
Dasmunshi has informed Pranab Mukherjee, external affairs minister and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh about his opposition to deployment of central forces in Nandigram. Dasmunshi is believed to have pointed out to the home ministry that the state government had deployed adequate force in Nandigram. The minister argued that it was not shortage of security personnel, but lack of political will to use the available force effectively.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}