After Singur, the next battleground in the war between Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Mamata Banerjee is going to be the Chief Minister’s own backyard, Writers’ Buildings.

With the Kolkata police lodging FIRs against four employees of Writers’ Buildings who were involved in a violent demonstration there on September 11 and Home Secretary Asok Mohan Chakrabarti sending show-cause notices to eight of them, Mamata has sprung to their defence.

On Monday, at a rally of state government employees owing allegiance to Opposition parties, Trinamool MP Mukul Roy read out a message by Mamata: “If the Government takes any action against these employees, I will myself lead the agitation at Writers’ Buildings.”

If that happens, it would be a historic event. The last time Mamata came inside Writers’ Buildings and sat for a dharna was in 1993, and then it was Jyoti Basu who was the target of her ire.

In a move to tighten discipline among employees at the Writers’ Buildings, the state Government also issued a circular today making attendance at 10 am mandatory. The employees have sought another 10 days to reply to the show-cause issued by the Government.