The leader of the People's Committee Against Police Atrocities, which is spearheading the tribal agitation in Lalgarh, is knocking on the doors of Left Front partners besides CPM for support. The RSP confirmed that they had talked to Chattradhar Mahato recently, and he reportedly received a favourable response from the party as well as the All India Forward Bloc.

RSP central committee member Manoj Bhattacharjee said, “We had a talk with Mahato regarding Lalgarh. We still maintain that police operation is not a solution to the problems there. We will deliberate on this issue within our party and also highlight it at the Left Front meeting.”

The CPM has branded Mahato a Maoist and the security forces in Lalgarh have included him in the list of most wanted. However, both the Forward Bloc and RSP have publicly opposed banning the Maoists.

Speaking to The Indian Express on the phone, Mahato said: “Our main enemy is the CPM and police. It is not necessary that other Left Front parties should also be against us. I talked to senior leaders of RSP and Forward Bloc. I sought their support for our agitation and to stop the Lalgarh operations. They gave a favourable reply.”