Bid to 'overthrow' Left govt in Bengal: Karat

Indore, Nov 15: Communist Party of India (Marxist) General Secretary Prakash Karat today alleged that an attempt was being made to ''overthrow'' the Left Front government in West Bengal in an ''undemocratic manner'' in the wake of the Nandigram incident.

''Maoists from Jharkhand were terrorising people in Nandigram and they had set up bunkers also,'' Mr Karat told reporters here while refuting as 'baseless'' allegations of massacre in Nandigram.

The issue of land acquisition in Nandigram had been resolved and the situation would become clear soon, he said.

''The CPI(M) was demanding deployment of CRPF personnel from the beginning, but a Central Minister from West Bengal was putting obstacles,'' Mr Karat said. Since CRPF personnel were being deployed now, the situation was improving, he added.

Expressing concern over the spurt in suicides by farmers, the CPI(M) leader said crop sale price had declined as against the input cost. Appreciating the Centre's decision to raise the minimum support price of wheat to Rs 1,000 per quintal, he demanded that the MSP of paddy should be raised at par with wheat.

Stating that Special Economic Zone would widen unbalanced development, he stressed the need for amending the SEZ Act. The Centre should review taxation on petroleum products in the context of the move to raise retail prices to level up hike in crude oil price in the international market, Mr Karat said.

UNI