Thursday, April 6 2006 10:56 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has distanced himself from his cabinet colleague and senior CPI(M) leader Subhas Chakraborty, who is facing a police investigation for alleged public outburst against election officials.

Meanwhile, the opposition Congress today demanded that CPI(M) should drop Chakraborty as candidate for the forthcoming assembly election.

Admitting that Chakraborty, state Transport and Sports Minister, has committed a mistake in criticising the Election Commission publicly, Bhattacharjee in an interview with aprivate TV channel said "We are not aware who is holding any threat and to whom. There might be a mistake in the case of Chakraborty. He (Chakraborty) also feels it and we have already replied to EC notice admitting the mistake. EC will do it's job and we will do ours".

When contacted senior CPI(M) politburo member Jyoti Basu refused to comment on it and said that he would consult his party in the matter before saying anything. He told sources "I have read in the newspapers (about EC filing police complaint against Chakraborty) but I would talk to my party before commenting. I have no idea whether my party would take a legal course of action (in favour of Chakraborty)."

Yesterday the EC filed a police complaint against Chakraborty under three sections of the IPC for allegedly making 'threatening' statements against government officials on poll duty.

The FIR was filed under section 186 (obstructing a public servant in discharging duty), 189 (threat of injury to public servant) and 506 (holding out threats) of IPC.