Left Front dares Centre to invoke Article 356 for West Bengal

Hours after a three-member central team began the exercise to assess law and order in West Bengal, the CPI(M)-led ruling Left Front today dared the Centre to invoke Article 356 in the state and said it was ready to accept the challenge.

"People of the state are ready to face the challenge if the Centre feels that it will invoke Article 356 for the state to teach the people a lesson," Left Front chairman Biman Bose said after a front meeting here.

Describing the central team's visit as "unnecessary", Bose said, "There was no need to dispatch the team here without consultation with the state government."

Alleging that the Congress-led UPA government had sent the team driven by the "compulsion of coalition" and under pressure from the allies, the Front chairman said, "Trinamool Congress has been conspiring over the Central team's visit."

"It is no use spreading confusion by talking repeatedly of Article 355 and Article 356," he said.

Bose said the Union home minister P Chidambaram had stated that the central team was being despatched to assist the state government.

"We can only accept the face value of his statement that despatching such a team is not a step for imposing Article 356," he added.

Without naming TC chief Mamata Banerjee, Bose alleged that one of Chidambaram's colleagues had been talking of Article 355 and 356 and the Centre was silent. "This gives a conflicting signal," he said.