“Whatever I have said about Azad, I stick to that, I addressed the rally from my party position,” Banerjee said, indicating that in Lalgarh, she was speaking as a chief ministerial candidate and not as a key minister of the UPA government. The statement, made before she left for Delhi on Wednesday afternoon to attend the Monsoon session of the Parliament, sends a clear message that in Centre, she wants to keep things on an even keel.

In Lalgarh, Banerjee had said: “Azad had been murdered and it was unjust. Azad had started a peace process. His initiative should be restarted. I pay my respect and homage to Azad from this meeting.”

“I have seen bloodbath in Lalgarh. Leaders of all political parties should visit Lalgarh. I am proud that I had been to Lalgarh. Let there be peace in the area, I want this only,” she said. “All leaders should go to Lalgarh, Singur and Bundelkhand and talk to the victims.”

Asked to comment on Maoist leader Kishenji’s offer for her appointment as the mediator for talks with the Maoists, Banerjee said she has not talked to anyone for the last 10 days. She came to know about Kishenji’s statement from media reports, she added. “If anybody wants to discuss the issue with me, I can give my opinion,” she said. “At the same time I should make it clear that I cannot impose my opinion on others,” she added.

For the last few days, the Opposition has been demanding that the Central government should come clean on what Banerjee, an UPA ally, had said and the government’s views on it.