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No increase in political crimes in Bengal: Narayanan

November 01, 2012 09:54 IST

West Bengal governor M K Narayanan said in Melbourne on Thursday that there has been no increase in political crimes in the state.

"I don't think there is any increase in political crime realistically," Narayanan told PTI on the sidelines of an annual conference of Australia India Institute.

"Statistics are very difficult to debate about as per state police and administration perceptions and with what ever I know, I don't think it has gone out wild," he said, adding that there was always a scope to improve the climate.

"People are producing statistics and I can contest that," he said.

Commenting if he could play a role to mitigate the recent fallout between the Trinamool Congress and the United Progressive Alliance, Narayanan said, "The principal role which is to advice the state CM about matters will remain the same whether you are in alliance or not."

"But in terms of giving a total integrated picture of various parties, I suppose I will have to work harder on that," he added.

Narayanan is currently on a two day visit to Melbourne to attend AII Conference on 'Argumentative Indian: Critical debates in the world's largest democracy & perspective from Australia" which kicked off on Wednesday.

Delivering the keynote address on Thursday to a large audience of scholars, intellectuals and academia, Narayanan highlighted on the growing relation of India with Australia.

"High level visits between both sides take place regularly," he said, referring to the recent visit of Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard to India.

The relations between the two sides were growing in terms of trade, energy, defence, education as well as in other areas, he added.

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