By IANS
Kolkata : Communist patriarch Jyoti Basu Monday made a surprise move as he called up Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee and invited her for a meeting at his residence to resolve the imbroglio over Nandigram violence and restore peace in the trouble-torn region.
Left Front sources said Basu himself called up Banerjee and the Trinamool Congress leader readily agreed to meet him at his Salt Lake residence Indira Bhavan at 7 p.m., raising hopes of a possible return of peace in Nandigram.
A Basu-Banerjee meeting is a stunning political development and with one phone call and Banerjee's immediate positive response, the 94-year-old Basu once again proved who still calls the shots in the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) and his stature as the undisputed leader of Bengal politics.
"I welcome it and we are all hopeful that now Mamata would accept Basu's advice and show political maturity to restore peace," said Left Front leader and Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) leader Kshiti Goswami while Communist Party of India (CPI) leader Nandogopal Bhattacharya said a leader of Basu's standing would be successful in breaking the impasse.
"We are hopeful," said senior Trinamool Congress leader Saugato Roy.
The much-publicised all-party peace talks on May 24 collapsed after an angry walkout by Banerjee over using the word "genocide" in the draft proposal of the meeting. The CPI-M had refused to term the March 14 police firing in Nandigram as "genocide".
The peace meeting was initiated by Left Front leader and Forward Bloc state secretary Ashok Ghosh.
At least 21 people have been killed, hundreds injured and several women raped in the continuing violence in Nandigram, about 150 km from here in East Midnapore district, since January over possible land acquisition for a special economic zone (SEZ) project in collaboration with Indonesia's Salim Group.
Thousands have been living in camps since.