Debabrata Bandyopadyay, a retired bureaucrat who is the chairman of the outfit, said the stage is open for all to join. “Any political party or organisation may join the rally at Lalgarh. So the Congress would not be formally invited to attend the rally. It is up to them to decide whether they would join the rally or not,” said Bandyopadyay on Wednesday.

Bhuniya, who said they have not received the invitation from Mamata Banerjee to attend the rally, however, had words of appreciation for the Railway Minister. “I appreciate her effort to restore normalcy and democracy at Lalgarh. I hope the rally will be successful,” he said. He later said that there should not be any debate on the formal invitation to the Congress.

Indicating that he would not join the Trinamool chief, Bhuniya said the Congress party has a scheduled programme at Tamluk on the same day on the occasion of Quit India Movement.

The Congress would hold rally at Jhargram and Salboni for safety and security of the tribal people either in August or September, he added.

Meanwhile, the Santrash Birodhi Mancha decided that Swami Agnivesh and Medha Patkar will share the dais with Mamata Banerjee at Lalgarh under the banner of ‘Forum for Peace, Justice and Democracy’. Chotan Das, convener of the Forum,who took part in a meeting with the members of the Mancha, said Swami Agnivesh and Medha Patkar will urge the government and the Maoists to hold talks.

Sources said the Forum members had urged the Mancha not to invite the Congress leaders at the rally.

“It would have been inappropriate to demand withdrawal of forces from Jungalmahal with the Congress leaders in dais, as it is the Congress-led UPA government which has launch Operation Green Hunt,” said a source.

Joint forces to stay: Centre
The Centre reiterated on Wednesday that it is not possible to withdraw the joint forces from Left Wing Extremism (LWE)-affected areas of West Bengal. “There is no question of withdrawal of forces (from Lalgarh). We have not received any request either from anybody,”Union Home Secretary Gopal Krishna Pillai told The Indian Express over phone. Reminded that Railway Minister Banerjee has made the demand for withdrawal of joint forces in public several times, Pillai replied: “Making a demand in public is one thing and making an official request is another. You will have to make a formal request.... There is no question of scaling down on Central paramilitary forces in the state. We will increase it rather.” Reacting to Pillai’s comments, Leader of the Opposition and Trinamool Congress general secretary Partha Chatterjee said, “We have not gone to him but we are going to the appropriate forums with our request for withdrawal of the forces.”