Mamata bashing unites BJP, Left in Lok Sabha

At a massive rally in Lalgarh on Monday, Union minister and Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee had questioned the manner in which Maoist leader Cherukuri Rajkumar or Azad was killed in Adilabad, Andhra Pradesh on July 2. She had said: "I believe Azad had been murdered. It was unjust. But peace talks should be started... I pay my respect and tribute to Azad.”

She had also issued a “peace” message to the Maoists and combined it with her pressing need to make inroads in the Naxal heartland, a CPM bastion where her Trinamool Congress has had little electoral success so far.

She urged the Maoists: “Tell me what you demand. Give a time. Tell me the place and I am ready to initiate the peace process.”

She asked Maoists and tribals in Lalgarh to spell out clearly what they wanted. If they wanted schools, colleges, hospitals, roads, she said, that would be ensured. “Just wait for a few more months and the Marxists will be out of power. I promise to bring development here. If you want jobs, I can set up a railway factory in Lalgarh to provide jobs to the unemployed.”