Taking a swipe at the opposition parties who have blamed her government for the unrest in the hills, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday accused them of fishing in troubled waters to derive political mileage.Reacting to the remarks of Left Front chairman Biman Bose, Banerjee said the Left should look at the policies they pursued in the hills when they were in power for 34 years."Some people try to fish in shallow waters. They should look at themselves first.The Left regime had not carried out any development in the hills during their 34 years of rule and constantly compromised their stand," she said.Alluding to the massive stone pelting by the GJM activists on police on Thursday, Banerjee hinted that the GJM was only following the lead given by the Left activists who resorted to a similar strategy in Kolkata during their March to the secretariat last month."I do not want to name any political party. But who is giving a lesson on stone pelting now a days? Who started stone pelting in Kolkata?" she asked.The Trinamool supremo also said she expected a better quality political statements from him."Biman Babu (Bose) is a senior politician. I would expect him to say what is expected from a senior politician like him, nothing beyond that," she added.
Echoing Banerjee's claims, state Education Minister Partha Chatterjee accused the state opposition parties of conspiring with the GJM to create a "jungle Raj" in the hills."We know we are behind this conspiracy. The Morcha has learnt these tactics from the plains. A couple of their leaders held a meeting with BJP here and then planned yesterday's nuisance in the hills. It is absolutely certain that there was some influence of the BJP' in yesterday's incident," he alleged."Some selfish leaders are trying to create a jungle-raj in the hills by putting the locals in front. Meanwhile, the BJP and the Left Front leaders, whose sign boards are almost extinct from the state, are trying to gain political mileage," he said.Asked if the Trinamool leadership would approach the Governor, Chatterjee said that won't be necessary as the Chief Minister was singlehandedly tackling the situation."The Chief Minister alone is enough. Hats off to her. The patience she has shown, even in Madhya Pradesh, it could not be shown. Police maintained maximum restraint though they were beaten up and government property was torched. She has shown patience as people of the hills want development," he added.