CPM against president's rule in W Bengal

Shimla, Nov 23 (UNI) The CPM today opposed the BJP's demand for President's rule in West Bengal following violence in Nandigram, saying there is no parallel between the happenings in Nandigram and the communal violence in Godhra in Gujarat.

''Nandigram forms one-and-a-half block out of 341 blocks of West Bengal. Some ugly incidents at Nandigram, which were immediately checked by the state government, can not be dubbed as law and order collapse and form the basis of imposing President's rule,'' party's politburo member Sitaram Yechury said at a press conference here.

He said the BJP's demand (to impose of Article 356 in West Bengal) is ridiculous.

The CPM leader was here to release the list of party candidates for the Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections, the second phase of which are being held on December 65 after polling to the three tribal constituencies was held on November 14.

Terming the Godhra killings as a ''state-sponsored communal incident where innocents from the minority community were massacred mercilessly'', he said ''in Nandigram, majority of the victims were party cadres.

Mr Yechury said trying to make a comparison between the two was a deliberate attempt to trivialise the Godhra.

He flayed the political forces hostile to the CPM for ''ganging-up and patronising the Maoists to capture the territory in Nandigram through the use of armed force''.

The CPM leader said that the Congress, Trinamool Congress, BJP and the RSS have joined hands to extend support to the Maoists in Nandigram as part of their opposition to the party in West Bengal.

''Patronising Maoists to gain politically in an opposition ruled state is a dangerous trend,'' he added.

UNI