Maoist leadership is divided, says West Bengal CM

Amid speculation whether top Maoist leader Kisheji was dead, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Friday stated he has heard about the same and that the Maoist leadership was now divided.

"I also heard about it (Kishenji is dead). The Maoist leadership is now divided. They are now cornered," he said.

Posters alluding to 'martyrdom' of Kishenji found by the police have intensified speculation over whether the Maoist top leader, who has not made any public appearance for eight months, is dead.

"Change has taken place in some areas of West Midnapore and Bankura where people are resisting the ultras, but recently in Purulia the Maoist problem has aggravated. They have kidnapped two persons. We are trying to free them although we have not yet succeeded," Bhattacharjee told a television channel in Kolkata.

"Politically we have achieved some success but the situation is still tough," he added.

The West Bengal CM also rubbished Trinamool Congress' charge that the Communist Party of India-Marxist harmads (goons) were killing people in the guise of joint forces.

Bhattacharjee said that his party indirectly benefited from the operation of the joint forces but "it is wrong to say that joint force were sent to give benefit to us".

Not only in West Bengal, central force was sent to Jharkhand, Orissa and Chhatisgarh to combat the Maoists, he said.

On Union Home Minister P Chidambaram's assurance to Trinamool Congress leaders that the role of the joint force would be inquired, Bhattacharjee quipped, "What will he say? They don't have time to listen to all these bogus things. Those who are directing the joint force are not so foolish."