Rao said that he could not attend the Lalgarh rally due to “other engagements’ with his party programmes but claimed that he was otherwise keen to attend it as it was aimed at bringing normalcy and peace back to the area. Addressing the Tamluk rally, state Congress president Manas Bhuniya said that his party feels that the people of West Bengal want a change and that this change will come under the Congress-Trinamool alliance.

Congress sources explained that their party’s stand on Banerjee’s Lalgarh rally was that none of the party leader should attend it but they would refrain from criticising her in the interest of their alliance. It was this alliance in Bengal that had kept the Left Front under tremendous pressure and could not harm the UPA government at the Centre, he pointed out. Rao said, “She invited me to Lalgarh but I did not know that such a big meeting was being held here by the Congress. It is my duty to meet our party supporters.”

He defended Banerjee’s Lalgarh rally as an initiative to bring back normalcy and peace to the area and underlined that the Congress would always support any such peace initiative. “We welcome whoever comes forward to bring peace. There is no room for violence. The Congress stands for peace,” he said.

Manas Bhuniya said that the ruling CPM was responsible for the current situation in Lalgarh and adjacent areas of Jungalmahal. The Left Front government over its past 33 years in office has not been able to not implement the Central government schemes meant for the backward areas. “We feel that the government should take the initiative to implement development programmes. Ironically, a big share of funds allotted for the development of the three Maoist-prone districts remained unspent for years,” he added.