Kolkata:
The battle lines of communication between the West Bengal government and the Centre remain wide open.
Within 24 hours of receiving P Chidambaram's letter, Buddhadeb Bhattacharya faxed his reply to the Home Minister today, along with another copy dispatched via speed post.
Mr Bhattachrya also took the moral high ground by refusing to spell out the contents of his note. Yesterday, both he and his party, the CPM, targeted the Home Minister for making the contents of his letter available in public before it reached the West Bengal Chief Minister.
That leak - the Chief Minister and his party suggested - was politically motivated, and aimed at keeping UPA ally Mamata Banerjee happy. Last week, Ms Banerjee, who is the Railways Minister and brings 20 MPs to the table, had alleged the Bhattachrya government of misusing central security forces sent to West Bengal. She also offered to quit if her charge was proved wrong.
In his note, the Home Minister virtually ordered Mr Bhattacharjee to disband armed cadres of the CPM, which he referred to as "Harmad Vahini" - a term which was coined and used by Ms Banerjee and means 'cadres of the CPM'. The Chief Minister has allegedly in his reply objected to this shared use of the term.
In his note, Mr Bhattacharya is also believed to have emphasized that political compulsions should not be allowed to dilute the fight against the Maoists and that West Bengal is the only state where Maoists are facing political resistance. The Left has repeatedly accused Ms Banerjee of supporting the Maoists.