Kolkata, Apr 27 - West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today claimed that Maoists had a hand in inciting slum dwellers of Nonadanga during a recent protest against an eviction drive and hoped that good sense would prevail upon them.

"Maoists had a hand in instigating slum-dwellers of Nonadanga", Banerjee said in an indirect reference to alleged involvement of Debolina Chakraborty, leader of the Matangini Mahila Samiti dubbed a Maoist front by the police, during the protests on April 8 against the eviction at Nonadanga on the E M Bypass.

Molecular biologist Partha Sarathi Roy was also arrested for allegedly taking part in the protests and released from jail after 10 days following a public outcry.

"We have already announced that we will give them everything if they return to the mainstream", she said. She said that an NGO was also involved which was seeking to champion the cause of the oustees of Nonandanga.

Banerjee said that outsiders would not be allowed to grab land for the poor at Nonadanga. "I am for the poor and will always work for them", she said. PTI