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Naveen draws flak from all on Posco

BHUBANESWAR: The controversy over forceful land acquisition for the proposed 12-million tonne capacity steel plant seems to have isolated Chief Minister and Biju Janata Dal president Naveen Patnaik politically like never before. The Communist Party of India, Communist Party of India (Marxist), and Nationalist Congress Party, which fought the last Lok Sabha and Assembly polls in 2009 by sharing seats with the BJD, have gone public in severely criticising Mr. Patnaik's government and his party for the forceful land acquisition for Posco in the recent weeks.

Apart from sending a team to Dhinkia and Gobindpur villages to express solidarity with the agitating people who were strongly opposing forceful acquisition of land, the NCP on Wednesday staged a dharna in Bhubaneswar demanding immediate withdrawal of police force from the area chosen for the steel plant project.

The other parties which have expressed support for the anti-Posco agitation being spearheaded by Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti along with the CPI and CPI(M) include Forward Bloc, Samajwadi Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal, and Socialist Unity Centre of India (Communist). Besides, main opposition Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party too have come down heavily on the State government for not holding talks with the Sangram Samiti to resolve the crisis.

They too have criticised Mr. Patnaik for not visiting the agitating villagers as he had announced in June last year. Further, the State government has been facing severe criticism from opposition parties as well as social activists for going out with the project work without renewing the memorandum of understanding that it had signed with Posco for establishment of the steel plant and a captive port. The MoU expired in June last at the end of five years.

With criticism growing from various quarters, primarily from the opposition and BJD's partner parties, the State government has since announced to halt land acquisition for the project till issue of further orders.

But pressure on Mr. Patnaik is still growing with the Left parties demanding that they would support the agitation against land acquisition for Posco till the State government announces shifting of the Posco project site to any other location as was being demanded by the Sangram Samiti.

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