Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday claimed that the Centre's silence on the violence in Nandigram was intended as a gift to the CPI-M for softening its stand on the India-United States nuclear agreement.

"I know the Centre has its compulsions. Why did the Centre not react and kept silent for 12 days in spite of repeated requests for intervention when a massacre was taking place?" Banerjee said at a press conference in Kolkata on Tuesday.

"Why did the CRPF arrive only after the operation by CPI-M at Nandigram was over?" she asked.

"Was it the UPA government's gift to the CPI-M for accepting the Indo-US nuclear deal?" Banerjee queried.

Even the media, she pointed out, was not allowed to enter Nandigram. "The Narendra Modi government also did not prevent the media during the Gujarat riots," she said.

Denying as baseless CPI-M General Secretary Prakash Karat's accusation that the Trinamool Congress had taken the help of Maoists to consolidate their hold on Nandigram, Banerjee said, "Karat was fed with a pack of lies and must control his chief minister."

Claiming that the violence in Nandigram was preplanned, Banerjee said seven police camps were withdrawn on October 24. "The administration and CPI-M ganged up to conquer Nandigram. Now, all traces of the massacre have been removed."

She alleged that Karat was also a part of the conspiracy hatched by the chief minister to malign Trinamool Congress.

Pointing out that she and social activist Medha Patkar were prevented from going to Nandigram, she said, "Leader of the Opposition L K Advani was allowed entry. This shows that BJP is not untouchable. I welcome Advaniji's visit."

On West Bengal Pradesh Congress' call to her to float a 'Save Democracy' Front comprising Congress, Trinamool and other secular parties to counter CPI-M, she said she welcomed the idea but "will Pranab Mukherjee allow it?"