Alternative land offer unacceptable: Mamata

Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday made it clear that any offer from the West Bengal government to provide alternative land to farmers who had not consented to give land for the Tata Motors' small car project was unacceptable.

"This is not acceptable to us. Why should farmers at Singur suffer for the Tatas building shopping malls on their land?" Mamata, who had a meeting with the CPI(M) veteran Jyoti Basu recently, asked.

Earlier in the day, Trinamool Congress General Secretary Partha Chatterjee said that such an arrangement was being worked out by Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacherjee and other CPI(M) leaders after a discussion with Basu on Tuesday.

"Mamata Banerjee has already told Jyoti Basu that the Tatas can set up their factory at Singur if land was returned to farmers who have not given their consent," Chatterjee, who is also the Leader of the Opposition, said.