Railways Minister Mamata Banerjee had yet another setback when Home Minister P Chidambaram today denied allegations that CPI(M) had a hand in the Mumbai-Kolkata Jnaneshwari Express accident.
Sticking to his gun that Naxalites were behind the attack, Chidambaram said, “The needle of suspicion points to Maoists or frontal organisations of CPI Maoists. However, the identity of the culprits can be established only in the investigations.”
In what can be seen as a double blow for Banerjee, the Union government also turned down demands for a CBI probe into the incident, following the West Bengal government’s announcement against it. “The state government thinks there is no need for a CBI probe,” Bengal Home Secretary Samar Ghosh had said.
Trinamool Congress was quick to score political points and claimed their stand had been vindicated by the state government announcement. “This is exactly the stand we had taken...it is vindicated. Why is the CPM-led state government afraid of the truth? Now the needle of suspicion is definitely at the doorstep of the CPM,” Dinesh Trivedi, Minister of State for Health remarked in Kolkata.
According to Banerjee and her party, there is no evidence to pin the Naxalites for the accident. Instead, she said there was a “political conspiracy” — hinting at the involvement of CPI(M) elements trying to sabotage her image on the eve of the state’s civic polls.