Centre Concerned over Political Killings in WB: Chidambaram

Worried over a series killings inspired allegedly by politics in Left-ruled West Bengal, the centre government has sought an end to it while Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee demanded that the joint operations against Maoists in Lalgarh should be terminated.

“We are concerned. It (killings) should stop. After all who are being killed are average political workers,”Home Minister P Chidambaram told reporters in New Delhi.

His observations have come following Banerjee’s meeting with him and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee over the “killings” of her party workers in West Bengal.

“I have spoken with the West Bengal Chief Minister…I will speak to him again,” Chidambaram added.

Accusing the Left Front government of indulging in “atrocities” against political opponents, Banerjee demanded an end to the joint operations by Central forces and state police against Maoists in Lalgarh.

“Since the (Lok Sabha) elections, 50 of our workers have been killed,” she said.