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Congress supports Trinamul bandh call

The Congress Thursday extended 'moral support' to the Trinamul Congress-sponsored 'dawn-to-dusk' bandh call for Friday and described as 'barbaric' the alleged attack on Trinamul activists by Communist Party of India-Marxist activists at Keshpur on Wednesday.

There was no scope for opposing the bandh as 'the democratic rights of the people have been taken away by the Left Front government', West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee leader Pradip Bhattacharya said during the party's statewide law violation programme in Calcutta.

PCC chief Pranab Mukherjee, who courted arrest along with hundreds of Congress workers by violating the law near the Raj Bhavan, came down heavily on Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee for his 'inept handling of the law and order situation and other sectors of the administration'.

"It appears that Bhattacharjee is behaving as Gautama Buddha descending from Kapilavastu, unaware of the state of affairs in the state although he was a minister in the Left Front government for 19 years", he said.

Mukherjee was also critical of the chief minister's method of handling of dacoity cases, saying, "He should know that the work of a chief minister and that of a police officer is different".

He said the Congress' law violation programme was in protest against the 'misrule' of the ruling Left Front, 'breakdown in the law and order machinery', besides the 'anti-people policies' of the National Democratic Alliance government at the Centre.

Meanwhile in Midnapore, Railway Minister and Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee urged the administration to restore peace in Midnapore, as her party claimed that over 1,000 Trinamul supporters, including 70 women, were injured in the clashes which continued to rock the district.

Banerjee who suffered injuries in her foot when brickbats were hurled at her met Midnapore District Magistrate M V Rao and asked him to take "immediate steps" to control the violence that broke out after her rally at Keshpur on Wednesday, Trinamul MP Sudip Bandyopadhya told PTI.

He alleged that Wednesday night's attack on Banerjee was a ploy to 'eliminate' her.

"It was a ploy to kill our leader as 110 rounds were fired and 200 bombs hurled at her by CPI-M hoodlums at Matina village. Party leaders Subrata Mukherjee, Mukul Ray, Sonali Guha, and Nirmal Maji and I threw a human shield around her to protect her," Bandyopadhya said.

Banerjee who returned to Calcutta is resting at Rani Shiromoni lodge after being advised complete rest, Bandyopadhya said.

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