Trinamool calls bandh

By Our Special Correspondent

KOLKATA, JAN. 4. Confrontation between West Bengal's ruling Communists and the Trinamool Congress came to a head today with the latter calling a 12-hour State-wide bandh tomorrow.

While the Trinamool protested ``the unleashing of violence on our supporters'' in Keshpur in Midnapore district on Wednesday, the Leftists opposed it saying that the Trinamool supporters themselves indulged in violence.

``We are anti-bandh, but the way the CPI(M) cadres attacked our supporters without any provocation, we decided to call a bandh to draw the nation's attention on the atrocities carried out by the Communists,'' the Trinamool chairman, Mr. Pankaj Banerjee, said.

Fresh clashes

After a brief lull, fresh clashes were reported from Keshpur, Garbeta, Mahishda, Amdanga and other villages today morning. Police fired four rounds in the air as 12 personnel were seriously injured after Trinamool workers stoned the Kolaghat police station.

Both the Trinamool and the CPI(M) observed protests in Midnapore today. The Trinamool chief and Union Railway Minister, Ms. Mamata, Banerjee, met district administration officials and urged them to take immediate steps to bring the situation under control.

Bloody clashes erupted in Keshpur on Wednesday after a rally addressed by Ms. Banerjee, and supporters of both CPI(M) and Trinamool suffered injuries.

The Trinamool MP, Mr. Sunil Bandhopadhyay, said the attack on Ms. Banerjee was ``a ploy to kill her''. The West Bengal Minister for Transport, Mr. Sushanto Ghosh, who hails from Garbeta near Keshpur, however, dismissed the charge, asking Ms. Banerjee to produce proof of her leg injury.

PTI reports:

Mr. Bandhopadhyay reiterated the demand for President's rule in the State in view of the ``total breakdown of law and order machinery''. Charging the Left Front Government with ``politicising the administration totally'', he said, ``It is a matter of serious concern that the Midnapore district administration did not provide any security to Ms. Banerjee even after hundreds of CPI(M) goons mounted armed attacks on our supporters at Keshpur.'' He claimed that over 1,000 Trinamool supporters, including 70 women, had been injured.

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