West Bengal will have early polls this time, claimed Trinamool Congress chief and Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday.

Speaking at a massive public rally in Arambagh, a CPM fortress about 100 km from Kolkata, she said: “Who can tell for sure that elections to the state Assembly would not take place within the coming two or six months. I am telling you that we will have an early assembly election this time and I request you to fight the CPM politically.”

Mamata’s claim for an early Assembly election is significant as she is now an important minister of the Union Cabinet and an integral part of the UPA government. Assembly polls are due in West Bengal in mid-2011, but she indicated that an increasing volatile situation in the state might lead to early polls.

“We do not want President’s Rule in the state. But the CPM is bringing President’s Rule upon themselves by sustained violence and attacks on our supporters throughout Bengal,” she said. “Today Mukul Roy (party leader) spoke with the state Home Secretary a number of times and I spoke with the Union Home Ministry. Bengal is under rule of the gun by the CPM.”

She said several parts of the state, including Arambagh, Goghat and Khanakul and pockets in Burdwan, Birbhum, North and South 24-Parganas, are reeling under violence by the ruling party cadres.