KOLKATA: A delegation of the All India Congress Committee, led by Digvijay Singh, visited Nandigram in West Bengal's Purbo Medinipur on Sunday. Mr Singh addressed a rally there and said that the Chief Minister should resign in view of the deaths. The AICC was awaiting the CBI report before deciding on the next course of action, he said.

Union Information Minister, Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi, who also went to the area regretted that "a civil war-like situation had developed in the region".

Addressing a rally at Sonachura, he demanded that the police be withdrawn from the area immediately and not in phases as had been decided at a meeting of the Left Front on Saturday.

Mr Dasmunshi also said that he was aware that the State leadership of the party had demanded the invoking of Article 356 in the State. ``There are certain aspects that need to be studied regarding the demand," he added.

The delegation also visited Tamluk hospital, where it spoke to those admitted there after sustaining injuries in the Nandigram violence on March 14.

The Trinamool Congress-led Krishi Jami Raksha [Save Farmland] Committee, took out a procession in the city in protest against the police firing at Nandigram.

Later, its leader, Mamata Banerjee, addressing a rally, reiterated her demand for the resignation of the Chief Minister and called for Central intervention.

George Fernandes, convenor of the National Democratic Alliance, who visited Nandigram on Saturday as member of an NDA delegation said that that the "[State] Government should be immediately dismissed".

"It just has no right to be there, " he added.

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