Vijayawada, Aug 7 (IANS): The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) Saturday alleged that the Trinamool Congress, led by Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee, and Maoists were working in tandem and over 250 CPI-M activists have been killed by "TMC (Trinamool Congress)-Maoist gangs".

Addressing the inaugural session of four-day meet of the central committee here, CPI-M general secretary Prakash Karat said that such violence "bodes ill for the country".

"The firm stand adopted by the CPI-M and its consistent opposition to the neo-liberal policies and the strategic tie-up with US imperialism have drawn the ire of the ruling classes," Karat said, adding the attacks were concentrated on the CPI-M and the Left Front government of West Bengal.

"More than 250 members and the supporters of the CPI-M have been killed by the TMC-Maoist gangs. The TMC is part of the central government. Such violence and attacks on democratic rights in West Bengal presage an authoritarian trend which bodes ill for the whole country," he said.

The CPI-M leader said "the bloody violence against (the party) and the Left Front in West Bengal is of no concern" to the rightwing forces or "for those who draw their sustenance from imperialism and the corporate media".

He said the Maoist guerrillas have exposed their "vicious and anti-democratic character through their murderous spree targeting the CPI-M)".

"They do not stop at this but attack innocent people, as seen in the dastardly Gyaneswari Express sabotage. Such actions should dispel the illusion some sections of the intelligentsia have about the Maoists," he said.