Vijayawada:
The CPI(M) charged that the Trinamool Congress has "legitimised" the outlawed Maoists by organising a joint rally at Lalgarh in West Bengal and demanded that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh answer to the country on the "tie-up". (
Read: I don't understand the language of guns, says Mamata at Lalgarh rally)
"The Prime Minister went on record on the floor of Rajya Sabha that Maoists posed a grave threat to the country's internal security. Now, the Trinamool Congress that is part of the Central government has legitimised the Maoists by openly patronising them," CPM politburo member Sitaram Yechury said.
Addressing a press conference on the sidelines of the party's Extended Central Committee meeting at Vijayawada on Monday, Yechury said there was a "glaring contradiction" in the TMC-Congress alliance.
"It's like hunting with the hounds and running with the hares. It is sheer opportunism on part of the Congress," he lashed out.
Reacting to TMC chief Mamata Banjerjee's allegations about misuse of Central funds by the West Bengal government, the CPM leader said such allegations could not stand anywhere.
On Mamata's outbursts as well as social activist Swami Agnivesh's comments at the Lalgarh rally against the CPM, he said: "It's a democratic country and everyone can give their own speech."
To the Union Railway Minister's claim that they could venture into Lalgarh without carrying guns, Yechury shot back
"When the Maoists themselves are organizing the rally, where the need for guns?'
CPM AP secretariat member Y Venkateswara Rao was also present.