Days after the Trinamool rally in Lalgarh, this was the message from the ultra-left group, said social activist Swami Agnivesh. He said he would try to convey the message to the PM. “Chief Minister Budhadeb Bhattacharjee is good man,” he said. “He should come forward for a dialogue with the Maoists to establish peace in Junglemahal.”

Agnivesh was part of the August 9 rally and had urged for a stop to the violence. Earlier, he had demanded judicial inquires into the deaths of Azad and PCAPA leaders Lal Mohan Tudu and Sidhu Soren.

He said on July 21, he had proposed to Home minister P Chidambaram to hold a judicial inquiry into Azad’s death, but the minister had turned down the request.

Supporting Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee’s claim that Azad was killed in a fake encounter, the Left ally RSP, meanwhile, has criticised her for mentioning it at a public meeting. Kshiti Goswami, RSP leader and state PWD minister, said: “We also believe that the Maoist leader was killed in a fake encounter and Central government should take initiative to reveal the truth.”

But Banerjee, he said, should have raised the issue in the Parliament or in the Cabinet.