The Hindu : Front Page : Talks on to end Singur crisis

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Monday, Sep 08, 2008
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Talks on to end Singur crisis

Marcus Dam

Fresh demands cause anxiety

KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee held two rounds of discussions here on Sunday in a bid to resolve the stalemate over acquisition of sites for the Tata Motors project at Singur.

The second round of talks held late in the evening was preceded by anxiety over the progress of the negotiations when Ms. Banerjee reportedly raised a fresh demand calling for suspension of work in the vendor park till the issue of handing over land was addressed.

Ms. Banerjee was also reported to have raised certain objections to the agreement pertaining to the project signed by the State government and Tata Motors.

The irritant came moments after the earlier discussions with the Chief Minister had seemingly ended on a positive note and a tentative decision taken to lift on Monday morning the 15-day siege by the Trinamool Congress and its allies outside the Tata Motors project site.

The stir was to press the demand that land acquired from “unwilling farmers” be handed back.

The meetings between Mr. Bhattacharjee and Ms. Banerjee were presided over by Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi.

The Chief Minister, who was attending a meeting of the ruling Left Front, left again for Raj Bhavan for a meeting with the Governor after being informed of Ms. Banerjee’s change in stand .

Hectic parleying

The hectic parleying that continued for most of the day began with discussions between Mr. Bhattacharjee and the Governor in the morning. Shortly after, Ms. Banerjee was invited by the Governor for a separate round of talks, held after the latter sent a message to her stating that the State government had agreed to consider the proposal of providing land from both within and outside the project area.

Later in the afternoon, following a request by the Governor, the Chief Minister joined in talks with Ms. Banerjee.

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