Reflecting the changing power equation in West Bengal and pointing to a bitter,violent political turf war ahead,hundreds of residents,under the banner of Mamata Banerjees Trinamool Congress,took to the streets in CPMs bastion Khejuri,next door to Nandigram,and went on a violent door-to-door search ostensibly to recover arms and ammunition allegedly stored in the houses of CPM cadres. By late afternoon,over 1200 CPM supporters,including senior district CPM leaders,were forced out of their homes; several CPM offices were ransacked; the one in Kalagachia was set on fire and houses of several CPM leaders and supporters were torched. Said Sisir Adhikary,the newly elected Trinamool MP from the area and Union Minister of State,Rural Development: Khejuri is now free from terror after the revolt of the people against CPM. The people in Khejuri tasted freedom today. A team of five Left Front Ministers,heading for Khejuri after news of the violence reached state headquarters,could not make it to the village. One of the ministers,Rekha Goswami,Minister for Self Help Groups, said: We decided to return to Tamluk after we received information that TMC activists have ransacked and set fire to CPM party offices. Our presence in Khejuri might have aggravated the tension. Others in her team included Rabilal Maitra,Minister for Judicial Affairs; Partha Dey,Minister for School Education; Binay Krishna Biswas,Minister of State for Disaster Management and Chakradhar Maikap,Minister of State for Technical Education and Training. Said Pallab Kanti Ghosh,East Midnapore District Superintendent of Police: The ministers decided not to go there because of tension prevailing at Khejuri. Khejuri,used as a base by CPM cadres for their violent campaign in Nandigram,has been a stronghold of the CPM it has won this Assembly seat since 1977. But after the Nandigram agitation,in the panchayat poll last year,Trinamool won one seat from Khejuri in the Zilla Parishad (district council) and a few village panchayat seats. In the Lok Sabha election of 2009,Trinamools Adhikary for the first time in 32 years secured a lead of 1500 votes from the Khejuri Assembly segment over the CPM candidate and went on to win the Tamluk seat (in which Khejuri falls). Said Ashoke Guria,CPM East Midnapore district committee member: Firearms were recovered from ponds and other places,not from party offices or from the residence of our supporters. Both CPM and Trinamool supporters in this area stockpile arms. He alleged that two local CPM leaders Bablu Kar and Pasupati Das have been abducted by the Trinamool.
