# 1550
While State officials are pointing the finger of blame for the bird flu outbreak in West Bengal at Bangladesh, maverick politician Mamata Banerjee is claiming that the ruling party (CPI-M) ignored outbreaks in poultry for months, and `allowed' the outbreaks to happen.
Late last December Mamata Banerjee formed the PSDF (Progressive Secular Democratic Front). The PSDF is a coalition of 16 smaller parties that hopes to take on the ruling Marxist party in the upcoming May elections. The Communist party of India (Marxist) CPI(M) has a strong presence in the states of Kerala, West Bengal, and Tripura.
Mamata accused the ruling party of `atrocities' last month during her opening speech at the PSDF. Obviously she's looking for a platform that will resonate with the voting public.
Whether a bird flu conspiracy will fly, remains to be seen.
Flu man-made, says Mamata
28 Jan 2008, 0351 hrs IST,
KOLKATA: The bird flu in Bengal is man-made, Trinamool Congress chairperson Mamata Banerjee alleged on Sunday.
Addressing the first meeting of Progressive Secular Democratic Front (PSDF), Mamata said that since November last year, the state government had the information that bird flu had broken out in some parts of the state. But it did not take any preventive step.
"CPM was sleeping at that time. Now that panchayat polls are round the corner, it has suddenly woke up." The party is playing politics with bird flu, she alleged. It’s part of a CPM conspiracy to ruin the rural economy. The flu has given the party leaders a chance to mint money.
