Mamata chairs high-level meet after CPI-M, Trinamool clash

With Communist Party India-Marxist and Trinamool workers clashing in South 24 Parganas district and indulging in violence, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday held a high-level meeting at the state secretariat in Kolkata.

Banerjee, who was recuperating from fever and advised rest, came to Writers Building shortly after the violence broke out and held a meeting with Chief Secretary Sanjay Mitra, Home Secretary Basudeb Banerjee and Additional Director General of Police (law and order) Surajit Kar Purakayastha.

The CPI-M and Trinamool workers on Tuesday clashed at Bamunghata in South 24 Parganas district leaving a number of workers of both parties injured, including one with bullet injury, while 10 vehicles were damaged and torched.

Trouble arose when the CPI-M workers who were to hold a protest rally at Alipore were going past Bamunghata in vehicles where the Trinamool Congress was holding a meeting, Superintendent of Police Pravin Tripathy said.

Asked which party was responsible for the firing, the chief secretary parried a direct reply and told reporters, "Everything will be known only after a report is received." He did not elaborate.

On whether an inquiry into the violence would be ordered, Mitra said, "Everything will be followed as per rules."