The Hindu : National : Trinamool leader rejects talks offer

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Feb 09, 2007
ePaper


<SCRIPT language='JavaScript1.1' SRC="http://ad.doubleclick.net/adj/N4322.hinduonline/B2155503.3;abr=!ie;sz=468x60;ord=[timestamp]?"> </SCRIPT> <NOSCRIPT> <A HREF="http://ad.doubleclick.net/jump/N4322.hinduonline/B2155503.3;abr=!ie4;abr=!ie5;sz=468x60;ord=[timestamp]?"> <IMG SRC="http://ad.doubleclick.net/ad/N4322.hinduonline/B2155503.3;abr=!ie4;abr=!ie5;sz=468x60;ord=[timestamp]?" BORDER=0 WIDTH=468 HEIGHT=60 ALT="Click Here"></A> </NOSCRIPT>

National

National

Trinamool leader rejects talks offer

Special Correspondent

Wants all land acquisition notifications withdrawn first

Kolkata: An invitation by West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee for talks with a

senior Trinamool Congress member in the face of the party's unrelenting opposition to the setting up of industries at Singur and Nandigram was rejected on Thursday.The letter was sent to the Leader of the Opposition and Trinamool MLA, Partha Chatterjee, urging for a "peaceful and logical" solution to the outstanding issues in the interest of the "overall development of the State."

Pre-condition

Turning down the offer, Mr. Chatterjee said discussions could only be held on the pre-condition that the State Government "withdraws all notifications served, both at Singur and Nandigram, for the acquisition of farmland and involves all leaders associated with the movement against land acquisition."

"If you have no problems I would like to discuss with you the overall situation in the State at a meeting at my Writers' Buildings chamber at 4.30 p.m. on February 13," Mr. Bhattacharjee had said in his letter.

Previous invitations by Mr. Bhattacharjee, on four separate occasions, to Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee, had failed to elicit any affirmative response.

They had been sent in the course of her 25-day hunger strike in December 2006 in protest against the setting up of a car-manufacturing project at Singur.Mention of one of the letters sent to Ms. Banerjee was made in the Chief Minister's letter to Mr. Chatterjee. "I did not receive any reply to my communication to your leader Mamata Banerjee on December 28 when I urged her to end her fast and invited her for talks on the overall situation in the State," it stated. The letter is the first to be sent to the Trinamool Congress leadership since Ms. Banerjee called off her hunger strike on December 28-29, 2006.

"In favour of

peaceful solution"

Mr. Bhattacharjee referred to media reports quoting Trinamool Congress leaders that the Left Front Government had failed to keep its word on holding talks with Opposition leaders. "I have no knowledge if the media reports are correct," he said adding that "to end all confusion I would like to inform you that the State Government is in favour of a peaceful and reasonable solution of the [outstanding] issues."

Life disrupted

Earlier in the day, Biman Bose, Secretary of the State Committee of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) regretted that "life had been completely disrupted at Nandigram" following the digging up of roads and damage caused to bridges by "anti-development activists who were carrying out such mischievous activities."

"The police have to be vigilant and cautious" in dealing with those engaging in such activities, he said.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National