Congress seeks all party meet on Singur issue

Demanding an all-party meeting to decide the next course of action on the Singur issue, the Congress' West Bengal unit Sunday said the Trinamool Congress-led state government must "introspect" to prevent any further mistakes.

"Neither industry nor agriculture, Singur has lost on both counts. The state government has lost the case in the high court. The state government needs a through introspection. If it doesn't do that it will again commit a blunder," said state Congress chief Pradip Bhattacharya.

Holding the land law, enacted by the state government last year to return land taken from the farmers as "unconstitutional", the Calcutta High Court Friday ruled sections of compensation in the legislation were in conflict with the Land Acquisition Act, 1894.

A day later, the Mamata Banerjee government kick-started a damage control exercise by calling a meeting of a virtually defunct panel that had played a key role in the movement against farmland acquisition.

Banerjee, several of her cabinet colleagues and thinkers attended the meeting of the "Krishi Jami Jibon Jibika Rakha Committee (Save Agricultural Land, Life and Livelihood Committee)" which had spearheaded the movement for return of land to the farmers whose land the then Left Front regime had reportedly acquired against their will for Tata Motors' Nano small car plant.

Agriculture Minister Rabindranath Bhattacharya said the committee has decided to start afresh the movement for return of land to the unwilling farmers.

Bhattacharya however said he would have been happy had the state government called an all party meeting to decide the next line of action on the issue.

"I would have been happy if the chief minister convened an all party meeting. I would welcome any move on the part of the government to call an all party meeting," he said.