Mamata government killed Kishenji: Abhishek Banerjee

Kolkata, July 18: Triggering a fresh controversy, Trinamool Congress member of parliament Abhishek Banerjee on Friday said the government headed by his aunt Mamata Banerjee killed Communist Party of India (Maoist) leader Koteswar Rao alias Kishenji.

"During the four year rule (of the Mamata Banerjee led Trinamool government), only one person has died (in Jangalmahal). He is Maoist leader Kishenji.

By killing him the Mamata Banerjee government has proved that people will have the last word," the young leader said at a public meeting in West Midnapore district's Belpahari.

The remarks ran counter to the chief minister's earlier claim that Kishenji had not been killed in a pre-planned way.

"You know that we did not eliminate Kishenji in a planned way. That took place in a certain situation. I was then in Delhi. The police did not know about the death either.

Had they come to know, then they would have announced it earlier," Banerjee had told reporters at the state secretariat here months after Kishenji's death.

"We do not want any death, whether it is of a common man or any opposition. But that thing (Kishenji's killing in encounter) had occurred," She had said.

Kishenji, a CPI (Maoist) politburo member, got killed in what the government claimed was an encounter with the security forces at Burisole village in the state's West Midnapore district in November, 2011.

IANS