SHOT DEAD TRINAMOOL CONGRESS MEMBERS

Maoists shot dead two Trinamool Congress workers at Bandhghora village near Lalgarh in West Midnapore district, police said today.

The guerrillas chopped the limbs of Paban Mahato (38) and Kaushik Dutta (35), a casual worker of electricity department of Manikpara in Jhargram, and fired 11 bullets at them from a close range yesterday, they said.

"They were missing since yesterday afternoon when they went to distribute electric bills to households in Rasua village. An inquiry is on," District Magistrate Narayan Swarup Nigam told us.

Police said Maoist posters were recovered from the spot claiming that Dutta and Mahato were police informers.

Union Minister of State for Rural Development and Trinamool Congress leader Sisir Adhikari said Mahato and Dutta were Trinamool workers.



In light of the Dantewada attack, Bengal CM Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Friday made a case for revamping the offensive against Maoists. Favouring a collective approach rather than indulging in a blame game, he said he would convey his views to the Prime Minister after the latter returned from his foreign trip.

After engaging in a verbal brawl with Home Minister P Chidambaram, the Chief Minister appeared less inclined to precipitate the tension. The CM, who had an interaction with Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee Thursday night, only chose to subtly point out that given the severity of the Maoist situation, it was “not the time to blame each other”. “This is not a time to blame anyone or blame each other. It is time to work together. It is a collective responsibility. Until and unless we work collectively, it will be very difficult to tackle Maoist violence. After the Prime Minister comes back, I will meet him and talk to him,” he said.