Centre hatching conspiracy to divide Bengal: Mamata Banerjee

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee called the Centre's decision to withdraw seven companies of the Central Armed Police Forces from Darjeeling "politically motivated" and "undemocratic".

Banerjee said she had sent letters to Modi and Singh on the withdrawal of the Central forces.

"I have written to the prime minister and the home minister and asked them not to withdraw the forces from the hills," she told a press conference at the state secretariat here after an all-party meeting on Darjeeling.

Describing the withdrawal decision as unilateral and unfortunate, Banerjee said, "The Central government is being run from the BJP party office. It is really unfortunate that the Central government has taken such a bad decision unilaterally to withdraw forces from the hills".

She accused the Centre and BJP of hatching a conspiracy. "They are conspiring to destabilise Bengal so that violence keeps on occurring," she said.

The Centre has said it will withdraw 10 of the 15 companies in the region, she added."Union Home minister Rajnath Singh told me seven companies would be withdrawn. I want to ask why this step-motherly attitude towards Bengal when huge numbers of Central forces are deployed in other states," she said.

Accusing BJP's Darjeeling MP S S Ahluwalia of helping fugitive GJM supremo Bimal Gurung foment trouble in the region, she said the BJP was allowing the hills to "burn for the sake of a seat".

The all-party meeting decided to work together for the restoration of peace in the hills. It was attended by several hill parties excluding the Jan Andolan Party (JAP).

PTI