“I met him two years ago, but when I came to know he was a tribal, I refused to meet him further,” she added.

Refuting the Left’s allegations that the Trinamool has Maoist links, she said: “I am not speaking as a Central minister, but as a party president. Over the last few days, there are efforts for character assassination by the CPM, alleging that we have links with Maoists. I demand that all these statements be withdrawn unconditionally within 48 hours, else we will hit the streets.”

The Railways minister also accused Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee of being a “closet Maoist”. “Who is a Maoist? Andhra Maoists and Bengal Maoists are different. The chief minister is a ‘closet’ Maoist. He reads Maoist literature. The CPM men are the Maoists,” she added.

Banerjee also questioned the motive behind the police action in Lalgarh. She claimed this was a game plan of the CPM-led Left government, and the Central forces were playing into their hands. “The CPM’s plan is to use Central forces to recapture lost ground in the region. This was planned before the CM left for Delhi three days ago,” said Banerjee.

The Trinamool chief said: “The chief minister knows he will get money in the pretext of resisting Maoist activities. The most unfortunate part is the sufferings of villagers. On one side you have Maoists, on the other the paramilitary forces. Villagers have become hostages.”

Alleging that the CPM was committing atrocities across the state, she asked why nothing was being done to check the state-sponsored terror.

“Is only Lalgarh the issue? The same condition is in Garbeta and Keshpur. The Centre should declare the region as a disturbed area. More arms will be recovered from houses of CPM cadres in the coming days,” she said.