No Maoists in Jangalmahal, says Mamata

Claiming that there were no Maoists in Jangalmahal, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Monday mounted pressure at the Centre to withdraw joint forces from the area and accused the Communist Party of India-Marxist of running armed camps there.

"There are no Maoists (in Jangalmahal). We would not have said anything if there were Maoists and the Centre took action against them. We don't support individual killing. Maoists who were present there got arrested," she told mediapersons in Kolkata.

Trinamool Congress would organise a procession in Kolkata on October 23 demanding withdrawal of joint operation and in support of peace, she said.

The railway mjinister said that joint operation (against the Maoists) was being carried out in Jangalmahal on the basis of the 'false report' given to the Centre (by the state government).

"The CPI-M was spearheading both the Maoists and the Marxists", she remarked. "The Left Front government has indulged in political terror by misusing the joint forces in the name of tackling the Maoists," she alleged.

She accused the state government of flouting the Constitution by 'misusing' the joint forces to achieve its objective of 'removing political opponents' in Jangalmahal.

Charging the CPI-M of running armed camps in the area, she said, "Why should a political party run armed camps. It is unconstitutional. Union home minister and the state government have admitted the existence of armed camps," she said.