SP warns Mamata against acquiring land in UP

Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh, who backed Mamata Banerjee in the Singur agitation, on Friday warned the railway minister against acquiring land in eastern Uttar Pradesh for the corridor project, saying there would be a 'bloodbath' against the move.

Raising the issue during Zero Hour the railways move to acquire 10,000 hectares for freight corridor project, Singh said he had backed Banerjee when she opposed the land acquisition in Singur in West Bengal.

He said now that Banerjee as railway minister was acquiring land at Chandoli, the Left should support the SP in opposing the move.

Singh said the land involved in Chandoli was much more than in Singur. He said Congress leaders in the state were agitating against the move. They should instead ask their government at the Centre not to go ahead with the land acquisition, he said.

"If land is acquired against the wishes of the people, farmers will resort to blood bath", Singh warned.

Through another mention, Manohar Joshi (Shiv Sena) said Marathi speaking people in the border districts were facing discrimination in Karnataka.

Joshi said his party members took up the matter with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh yesterday requesting the Centre to call a meeting of the Chief Ministers of the two states to resolve the long pending border dispute. He said if the issue was not resolved, his party would launch an agitation.

When his party colleague Bharatkumar Raut also wanted to speak on the subject, the Chair did not allow him. Joshi and Raut then walked out in protest.