By IANS,
Kolkata : West Bengal’s ruling Left Front (LF) Tuesday welcomed Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee’s decision to participate in a meeting with the state government on the Singur land row.
“I welcome her gesture. It is a very positive move that she has agreed to take part in a dialogue. I am very hopeful that both parties, the government and the state’s principal opposition force Trinamool Congress, would arrive at a solution through this process,” Left Front chairman Biman Bose told a press conference after a state-level meeting of the grouping here.
“The dialogue process should continue to resolve the Singur issue, if it is not resolved in a single talk,” he added.
Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee Monday sent a letter to Banerjee, inviting her for talks on the Singur land row. The Trinamool Congress chief also agreed to the proposal and decided to send representatives for the dialogue Wednesday.
Asked if the state government has any options to offer alternative land to the farmers in Singur who had alleged “forcible acquisition”, Bose said: “Since I am not a representative of the government, I don’t want to comment on that.”
He said Bhattacharjee and Industry Minister Nirupam Sen Tuesday briefed the Left Front partners on the present status of Tata Motors’ small car project at Singur.
“We have discussed the issue and I think the matter can be sorted out through mutual discussions,” Bose said.
Renewed agitation by the Trinamool Congress has threatened to delay the rollout of the world’s cheapest car Nano from Tata Motors’ plant at Singur – about 40 km from here.
Earlier, Banerjee said the 400 acres of land, acquired for developing ancillary plants for the Tata Motors project, should be returned to the farmers. She also said the 400 acres of land was unnecessarily acquired by the state government.
Chief minister Bhattacharjee addressing meetings in Darjeeling area, however, insisted that no excess land was acquired. He also ruled out restoration of the acquired lands to the farmers.
Tata Motors acquired 997.11 acres in Singur from the state government for the small car project.