The Trinamool Congress (TC) termed CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury as the country's "number one Maoist" alleging he has been having close relations with the Maoists in Nepal. "Sitaram Yechury is the man who supports the Maoists and keep going to Nepal. He should be considered as the number one Maoist in India," TC chief whip in Lok Sabha Sudip Bandopadhyay said when asked to comment on Yechury's allegation that Trinamool Congress is fomenting violence in West Bengal. He was speaking to reporters after a meeting with Union Home Minister P Chidambaram along with about a dozen party MPs and a Congress MP. "How (Yechury) can he criticise Mamata Banerjee? Mamata Banerjee is a nationalist,patriotic and believes in anti-CPI(M) philosophy. She is a genuine mass leader but Yechury is a backdoor MP," he said. Bandopadhyay said Yechury has no moral right to criticise Mamata Banerjee as there were enough proof of Yechury having close links with Maoists in Nepal. Earlier in the day,CPI (M) party leader Sitaram Yechury accused Trinamool Congress of fomenting violence in West Bengal. "Trinamool Congress is moving on a strategy of inciting and escalating violence and using that as a pretext to demand central intervention. They are conspiring to destabilise a duly-elected government and getting the assembly polls advanced so that these can be held under central rule," Yechury said.
