To regain control of Nandigram, local CPM leaders have formed squads — each has nearly 20 cadres — positioned at 10 points along the border with Khejuri, a CPM stronghold. They have been carrying out simultaneous attacks at different points, instead of attempting to move into one area. The CPM plan has worked: six villages have been emptied — Maheshpur, Gokulnagar north and south, Keshavpur, Kanungochak and Simulkundo. Keshavpur, Gokulnagar and Kanungochak had become bastions of the BUPC and Maoists.

In Kolkata, Mamata Banerjee demanded that the Disturbed Areas Act be immediately invoked in Nandigram to restore normalcy. Nirmal Jana, a CPM district committee secretariat member, said: “Ask the government why the police are not entering the area or acting.”

But Chief Minister Bhattacharjee was under pressure from his own party not to deploy the CRPF in Nandigram. “The Chief Minister has been asked by Front partners to postpone the decision to deploy CRPF in Nandigram and they urged him to arrange all-party meetings to restore peace,” confirmed veteran CPM leader Jyoti Basu after a meeting of the Left Front today.

State Home Secretary Prasad Ranjan Ray was also targeted by the CPM with Biman Bose, who’s also a politburo member, alleging that “the Home secretary is giving all misinformation and disinformation.The Home Secretary has made statements without checking facts”.

Ray had said yesterday that gunshots were fired from the Khejuri-end, the area dominated by the CPM.

Bose’s remark drew an angry response from Ray: “I have not told a lie. I get information from the police and district authorities. I have no other agency to bank on.”

... contd.