Derailment: CPI-M slams Mamata's finger-pointing

The Communist Party of India - Marxist on Saturday rubbished suggestions by Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee that a political conspiracy was behind the Gyaneshwari Express disaster in West Midnapore, alleging that she was trying to cover up lapses and failures of her ministry in the incident.

Senior CPI-M Politburo member Sitaram Yechury also said some elements were 'cynically' using the situation to further their petty partisan interests and claimed that it was being done to influence public opinion before the Bengal civic polls.

Yechury said it was Banerjee's duty to inform the country about her ministry's preliminary observations on the cause of the derailment that claimed at least 114 lives.

"She has rather chosen to shield the actual culprits by suggesting that Maoists may not be behind the sabotage. The minister continues to maintain that there was a blast that led to the accident while Home Minister (P Chidambaram) has denied that possibility. It is clear that the railway minister is seeking to cover up the serious lapses of her leadership in the ministry and its failings in this tragic episode," Yechury said.

Without naming any party, Banerjee said in a press conference in Kolkata that "whoever did it, it was a political conspiracy. The accident has happened two days before the (civic) election. One may be politically against us, but I feel bad about the way the incident was engineered to fulfill one's political interest."

Yechury said it was indeed sad that in the wake of a national tragedy, some elements were 'cynically' using the situation to further their petty partisan interests.

He alleged that it was done in order to influence public opinion on the eve of the civic elections in Bengal.