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Let them face poll: Mamata

Kolkata: If the Communist Party of India (Marxist) is really against American imperialism, then it should face the public in election instead of looking for a face-saving exit, Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee said here on Tuesday.

“The CPI(M) is afraid of losing the election if it is held now, so they want it a year later.” The party was now engaged in negotiations in New Delhi to ensure a face-saver, following its threat of withdrawing support to the government over the nuclear deal with the United States.

Ms. Banerjee was addressing a students rally, organised to commemorate the centenary of Mahatma Gandhi’s Satyagraha movement launch.

The policies that the CPI(M) was following such as setting up special economic zones and chemical hubs were actually American policies, she alleged.

Ms. Banerjee asked her supporters to prepare for panchayat or parliamentary elections in the course of the next year and not to concede any space to the CPI(M).

“The state govt could have set up industries without using fertile land but they never had a proper plan in place,” she said, adding that almost 27 bodies were recovered in Nandigram since violence erupted there in January.

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