Rapid Action Force was called out in Khanakul in Hooghly district and the police fired at least seven rounds at rampaging armed mobs at Nanoor village in Birbhum district as political violence between the CPM and the Trinamool Congress escalated sharply today in the districts of Hooghly, Birbhum, East Midnapore, North and South 24-Parganas, all in south Bengal.

A harried Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee called up Union Home Minister P Chidambaram a number of times to complain about the CPM resorting to terror and bloodshed and demanded that the Central government step in. While the Trinamool claims 168 of its members have been killed since the Lok Sabha polls, the CPM put their casualty at 130.

Banerjee, who addressed a rally in Nandigram today, laid the blame squarely on the chief minister. “It is Budddadeb Bhattacharjee under whose direct instructions armed CPM cadres are attacking village after village in Bengal. I had had a talk with Union home minister. We demanded intervention from the Centre since the state government has failed to maintain law and order,” she said.

But state Home Secretary Ardhendu Sen said various groups were trying to gain control of different areas through violence. “There is a fight going on for capturing areas in the state. Firearms have been used in some places. The chief minister has asked the police and administration to act neutrally and adequately,” he said. “There seems to be a cyclic order in the violence. I do not know whether there is a design,” he added.

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