Mind your language, Buddhadeb tells Chidambaram

West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee today hit back at Union Home Minister P Chidambaram for his comments that the buck stopped at his table on maintaining law and order in the state and asked him to "mind" his language.

"Buck is the not the language of politicians. It is a slang. I will tell him to mind his language. I had asked him to tell the Opposition to cooperate with the government," Bhattacharjee told reporters here. Asked to comment on Chidammbaram's views, the chief minister said, "I do not accept what he said. I know my responsibility. Let me do my job and and let him do his," Bhattacharjee said.

Chidambaram had, during a visit to Lalgarh yesterday, expressed unhappiness over recurring inter-party clashes in the state and said he had told the chief minister "the buck stops with you". Bhattacharjee said he knows the responsibility lies with him. "I am trying to discharge my responsibilities. I have my own views about the law-and-order situation of the state. He gave me his views and I gave him mine.

"But I also told him that it is very difficult to maintain law and order if the Opposition does not cooperate. I told him that you should tell the Opposition to attend meetings when called by the government," he said.

Asked to comment on Chidambaram's statement that the law and order situation was very bad in eight select police stations in the state as agreed to by Bhattacharjee himself, he said, "I had only told him that there are difficulties in maintaining law and order in these areas."

On whether the home minister was within his jurisdiction to comment on the law-and-order situation in any state, Bhattacharjee said, "He can give his own observation, but maintaining law and order was the state's responsibility.”