The Hindu : National : No dialogue with Maoists: Buddhadeb

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Wednesday, Feb 15, 2006

National

National

No dialogue with Maoists: Buddhadeb

Special Correspondent

``Anti-Left alliance will be blown off like hay by the wind of popular opinion''

KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said here on Tuesday that the "mahajot" being talked of by the Trinamool Congress and the Congress would "be blown off like hay by the wind of popular opinion" in the coming polls. Both parties were "sinking and crying out to be saved."

Mr. Bhattacharjee, winding up the debate on the motion of thanks to the Governor's address in the Assembly, charged the Trinamool with being part of a political nexus that included the Maoists. He reiterated that his Government was bent on combating Maoist violence, and there was no question "of any dialogue with those who wield arms and believe in violence."

As the problem had a socio-economic dimension, the State Government was focussing on measures aimed at alleviating poverty in economically backward blocks where extremist activities were concentrated, Mr. Bhattacharjee said.

West Bengal was the most successful State in lifting the maximum number of people from below the poverty level. Development work in 600-odd villages, identified as the most economically backward, "is being personally monitored by me."

Over the past few years, there had been a significant advance in the industrial sector. Investments would "double this year as compared to the last," with the maximum pouring into the iron and steel and the food processing sectors. The future lay in greater industrialisation, and investments were being made in the power and healthcare sectors.

In the agricultural sector, the State had recorded unprecedented growth but "it must be admitted that the benefits of this growth was not reaching all sections of the people." The problem of "inadequate crop-diversification remained and was being addressed," he said.

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