Singur issue: NDA to ask President to intervene

The National Democratic Alliance on Wednesday sought President A P J Adbul Kalam's intevention to save the life of Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee who is on the 24th day of her indefinite hunger strike against the acquisition of fertile land for the Tata Motors project in Singur in West Bengal.  

The NDA leaders, who met at the residence of chairman Atal Bihari Vajpayee, decided that a delegation would meet Dr Kalam on his return to Delhi and seek his immediate intervention to resolve the situation as Banerjee's condition has been deteriorating every day.

'The entire country is worried about her condition and the United Progressive Alliance government at the Centre and the CPI (M)-led West Bengal government should be held responsible if anything untoward happens to Ms Banerjee. If Prime Minister Manmohan Singh refused to inervene, the NDA would plead with Ms Banerjee to break her indefinite fast with a promise that they would do everything possible to bring her agitation to a victorious conclusion', the resolution said. 

Briefing newspersons after a meeting of leaders of NDA parties, BJP Parliamentary Party spokesman Vijay Kumar Malhotra said that the NDA expressed its solidarity with Banerjee's agitation to uphold the land and livelihood of the farmers in the face of CPI (M) propaganda.

The farmers were terrorised by the police and the CPI-M cadres to part with their lands and accept whatever compensation handed over to them, the meeting said.  

"There is no justification for taking over multi-crop farm land and uprooting agriculturists when the industry could be allowed to come up in uncultivated waste lands or be located in single crop producing lands," he said.  

The resolution adopted in the meeting expressed dismay at the 'double standards' of the UPA government in rushing a team led by Union Water Resources Minister Saifuddin Soz when a handful of agitators created disturbances against the raising of dam height of Sardar Sarovar dam since the beneficiary states happened to be ruled by the NDA.

The government 'instigated trouble but timely intervention by the Supreme Court saved the day and prevented further mischief', the leaders noted. 

The resolution said the government should talk to the Tatas and return the lands of farmers who had not been willing to part with them and who had not availed of compensation.

The state government should renegotiate with the Tatas to give up multi-crop land and accept an alternative site for their township and real estate project, it added.

Further, they ask that the prime minister should speak to West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and ask him to take into cognisance the 'explosive nature' of the situation.  

The meeting was convened following a meeting of BJP president Rajnath Singh with Banerjee at her fasting site.

Those who attended the meeting included Leaders of Opposition in Parliament L K Advani and Jaswant Singh, Sharad Yadav, president of Janata Dal (United), former Punjab chief minister Prakash Singh Badal, chief of Shiromani Akali Dal, Eknath Thakur, Shiv Sena and Brij Kishore Tripathi of the Biju Janata Dal.