The Hindu : National : BJP not invited for talks on Nandigram

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Wednesday, May 23, 2007
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BJP not invited for talks on Nandigram

Special Correspondent

KOLKATA: All major political parties in West Bengal except the Bharatiya Janata Party have been invited to an all-party meeting here on Thursday to determine ways to restore peace at Nandigram.

"Neither of the two sides — the Left Front or the Trinamool Congress — has asked for its inclusion," Ashok Ghosh of the All India Forward Bloc, who was entrusted with the job of arranging the meeting, said here on Tuesday.

"Those behind the meeting have conspired against us even though we have been highlighting the Nandigram issue from the start," Rahul Sinha, State BJP general secretary, told The Hindu .

"The meeting is nothing but a farce and we shall stage a demonstration outside the venue while it is being held."

Mr. Ghosh said Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee would not attend the meeting but had given an assurance that the Government would follow through any consensus arrived at the meeting for the return of normality at Nandigram.

He made a fresh appeal to veteran Marxist leader Jyoti Basu to be present at the talks. A request had also been made to Left Front committee chairman Biman Bose, he said.

Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee reportedly told Mr. Ghosh that she would be attending the talks along with some others. "I have left it to her to decide on who will be participating at the meeting from her side," Mr. Ghosh said.

Letters to different parties, including all the constituents of the Left Front, the Trinamool Congress and the Congress have been sent with the request that their representatives attend the meeting.

Following a demand by Ms. Banerjee that the meeting be arranged at the State level, the Left Front reversed its decision of holding the all-party talks first at the district level.

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