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Mamata admits naxal connection

NEW DELHI — After the ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist) in West Bengal repeatedly accused Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee of hobnobbing with the Maoists in the recent train hijacking incident, today she said that “some Naxalites have joined her party”.

“A section of Naxalites in West Bengal has shunned violence and joined main stream politics by reposing their faith in democracy,” the Trinamool Congress chief said today.

Admitting that many former Naxalites are with the Trinamool Congress, she said they have worked with us whole heartedly during the last Lok Sabha elections. People like Purnendu Bose, Dola Sen, Pradeep Banerjee and many more former Naxalites are very much with us and we welcome their return to democratic politics, she said.

Asked since when these Naxalites are with Trinamool Congress, she said, “it all started during the Singur agitation. They came forward and supported us.”

Seeking to differentiate between Naxalites and Maoists, Banerjee said, “Naxalites are not Maoists. So do not confuse them with Maoists.”

On CPI(M) allegation that she is getting support from Maoists, she said, “it is the other way around. Everybody knows who supported the Maoist movement in Nepal.”

She had earlier called West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee “both a Marxist and Maoist with a double face”.

“I think that the Marxists and the Maoists are both sides of the same coin. They are working together,” she said.

- AGENCIES