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Our Bureau

Kolkata, Sept. 7 The stalemate over land acquisition in Singur for the Tata small car project was far from over till the time of going to press today even as hectic parleys continued till late tonight between the West Bengal Government and the Trinamool Congress to resolve the issue.

After two days of discussions between the panels of the State Government — led by the State Minister of Industries & Commerce, Mr Nirupam Sen, — and that of the Trinamool Congress — led by the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Partha Chatarjee — the Chief Minister, Mr Buddhdeb Bhattacharjee, on Sunday met the Governor, Mr Gopal Krishna Gandhi, in the forenoon.

Shortly afterwards, the Trinamool Congress leader, Ms Mamata Banerjee, met the Governor at 3 p.m. Mr Gandhi had written a letter to Ms Banerjee requesting her to discuss the Singur issue with him with a view to arriving at a solution.

At 4.45 p.m., the Chief Minister joined the discussions and held parleys with Ms Banerjee in the presence of Mr Gandhi. The Chief Minister left Raj Bhavan at 6.40 p.m. amidst speculation that a solution to the Singur imbroglio had been arrived at.

Mr Bhattacharjee headed for Alimuddin Street, the headquarters of the CPI(M).

The Governor’s Secretariat informed newspersons that Mr Gandhi would address the media – as he had been doing for the past two days – at 7 p.m. to update it on the progress of the discussions.

At 8.05 p.m., the Press Secretary to the Governor announced that Mr Gandhi had expressed his inability to brief the media, at least for the moment. Asked whether a press briefing could be expected later tonight, he said he was not sure if that would be possible.

At the time of going to press, Ms Mamata Banerjee was still at the Raj Bhavan even as the Chief Minister, was returning from Alimuddin Street to Raj Bhavan for another round of discussions with Ms Banerjee in the presence of the Governor. Speculation was rife that Ms Banerjee had differences with the Chief Minister over the land area that would be handed back to the “unwilling farmers” from whom land was acquired for the Tata project.

Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Left Front, Mr Biman Bose, told a news conference that a settlement could be reached if all stakeholders agreed on a “sustainable economic rehabilitation package” for the land losers.

More Stories on : Cars | New Projects | Politics | Tata Motors Ltd

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