Kolkata, May 18 (IANS) Senior Left Front leader and West Bengal Forward Bloc secretary Ashok Ghosh would meet Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee Saturday in an attempt to restore normalcy in trouble-torn Nandigram.
“I am meeting Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee at 4 p.m. tomorrow (Saturday) as a preparatory meeting for all-party talks,” Ghosh told a press conference here Friday.
Ghosh had been taking a leading position in initiating peace talks to end the crisis in Nandigram, where at least 21 people have died since a flare-up in January over a special economic zone (SEZ).
Though Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya himself announced that the project in collaboration with Indonesia’s Salim group has been scrapped, violence continued to claim lives even after the March 14 mayhem in which 14 people were killed in police firing.
“If required we will hold talks in phases and if needed we will hold several bilateral or tripartite talks among us,” Ghosh said.
“The peace talks could be held either on 22nd, 23rd and 24th or on 28th, 29th and 30th (of May),” he said.
Ghosh said after meeting Banerjee he would brief the Left Front formally.
He said it would be better if Left Front chairman and Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) state secretary Biman Bose were present in the peace talks but that would be decided by individual parties.
“Though Jyotibabu (communist patriarch Jyoti Basu) was not keeping well, the presence of a leader like him is welcome. Even Mamata Banerjee said so,” Ghosh said.
“We will do everything to arrive at a consensus to bring peace in Nandigram,” said Ghosh.
Earller, West Bengal’s ruling Left Front had arrived at a consensus to hold an all-party meeting at the state level to initiate peace process in Nandigram.
In January, six people were killed in clashes between the CPI-M men and the Bhumi Uchched Pratirodh Committee (BUPC), a platform of opposition parties and bodies like Trinamool Congress, Congress, Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind and others.
Thousands of people were rendered homeless since the flare-up and they were living in camps.
Shootouts, bombings and arson between rival groups continued in Nandigram over battle for taking control of villages claiming one life on April 29.