Kolkata, Apr 29 : Former West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu today reacted caustically to United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi’s comments on the law and order situation in the State.

Basu, who is attending a politburo meeting of his Communist Party of India (Marxist) here, said Gandhi “did not know anything about the State.”

"I read in newspapers that she came to the State to campaign for panchayat elections. She knows nothing about the place. There is no need to give any importance to her utterances," Basu told reporters.

"The people here are suffering so much because of the price hike. It is the duty of the Centre to control prices and it is also a part of the Common Minimum Programme which the UPA government is not following," he said.

Basu’s rejoinder came a day after Gandhi blamed the Left Front-led government in West Bengal for the violence in Nandigram.

Addressing a farmer’s rally in Murshidabad ahead of panchayat elections in the State, Gandhi said what had happened in Nandigram was wrong, and added that her congress party was with the people of Nandigram in their time of distress.

She also said that it was easy to criticize the Central Government, but the State Government should first undertake its responsibility and find out why West Bengal is still lagging behind even after 30 years of Left rule.

We have resented Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s urge to Left leaders not to politicize the price rise issue during a recent meeting, Basu said.

On the induction of State Transport Minister Subhas Chakraborty into the CPI-M central committee, Basu said that no discussion had taken place in the party on it. (ANI)