Hunger Bengal weapon

The West Bengal administration on Monday changed tack and launched an attempt to alienate local residents from the Maoist rebels by distributing rice and relief materials to people in the poverty-stricken belt of West Midnapore district as well as some adjoining areas.

The hunt for the elusive ultra-left rebels continued at the same time, with the state government planning to send 10 more companies of the Central Reserve Police Force to Lalgarh. An undeclared ceasefire continued for the second consecutive day and the security forces remained on high alert.

As a goodwill gesture, the administration distributed relief materials to those “distressed and displaced” following the three-day battle between the Maoists and the forces.

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Bengal CPM scared of 2011 Karat effect

Apprehending possible flareups if not a full-scale revolt, CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat has decided to cancel the party’s scheduled central committee meeting on Monday and decided to wrap up proceedings after holding only the politburo meeting. The signal sent by the party on Sunday is that “policy issues do not require consultations”, which means in other words that Mr Karat is in no mood to allow politburo members effect to question his decisions, sources said.

The anger within the party’s powerful West Bengal unit became evident on Sunday when chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee indicated that he would not be coming to New Delhi on Monday to attend the politburo meeting. As for the central committee meeting, which was to follow the politburo session, a committee member said they were told the meeting had been “temporarily deferred”.

At Sunday’s meeting ofthe four Left parties here, representatives of both the CPI and the RSP questioned Mr Karat’s electoral decisions.

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