BJP hints at going ballistic on Nandigram in Parliament

New Delhi (PTI): The Nandigram issue is expected to generate heat in Parliament when its brief winter session resumes on Monday with the BJP on Sunday hinting at going ballistic on the Centre's "silence" on events in the area and Congress stepping up pressure on ruling West Bengal's ruling CPI(M).

Senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi, who has already moved a motion in Rajya Sabha for a debate on Nandigram on Monday, launched a sharp attack on Congress for remaining "silent" on Nandigram violence allegedly by CPI-M cadres and said his party wanted a debate on the issue in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.

"It is highly surprising that Congress is silent on Nandigram. Just because CPI-M is backing UPA government at the Centre, it is improper to forgive its cadre as Nandigram was made a war zone", Joshi told reporters in Bhubaneshwar.

He said no senior Congress leader, neither party chief Sonia Gandhi nor Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, visited Nandigram.

"It seems Congress is quiet on Nandigram either to save the UPA government led by it at the Centre or to make CPI-M soften its stand on Indo-US nuclear deal", the former Union minister alleged.

To a query, Joshi said he did not favour imposition of President's rule in Bengal but the Centre could have given a warning to the state government in accordance with constitutional provisions.

He charged West Bengal state agencies and CPI(M) cadres with converted Nandigram into a "war zone".

Stepping up pressure on CPI(M) on Nandigram issue, a delegation of Congress leaders, including Union Ministers Pranab Mukherjee and Priyaranjan Dasmunsi, met Congress President Sonia Gandhi in Delhi and suggested a high-level team be sent to the area to assess the situation.

The delegation, which also included Manas Bhuiyan, Congress Legislature Party leader in West Bengal, and Pradip Bhattarcharya, Working President of PCC, also met senior AICC General Secretary Mohsina Kidwai, in charge of party affairs in the state, who assured that she would place their demand before the party.

Coming down heavily on CPI(M), Congress had yesterday accused the Left party of putting the interests of its cadres above that of the people in Nandigram.

In a resolution adopted at the session, the party expressed concern over the "grave situation" in Nandigram, where the state government's writ "appears to have ceased to run." The party also denounced the "culture of violence and cult of armed cadres."

The notice for the adjournment motion sent by Joshi seeks suspension of the Question Hour on Monday to allow discussion on the Nandigram issue.

Giving the notice, Joshi said a "serious situation" had arisen in Nandigram due to "barbaric atrocities perpetrated on women farmers and other weaker sections of the society".

Refusing to accept that the matter was a state subject, the party argues that it can be debated in Parliament like 2002 post-Gordhra riots in Gujarat.

The BJP says Nandigram is not a state issue exclusively as it pertains to acquisition of land for Special Economic Zone (SEZ) which is a central subject.

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