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Just a week after the public posturing over a joint bid to break the Singur deadlock, the Trinamool Congress and the West Bengal government today resumed their mud-slinging.
While Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee hinted at reviving her agitation at Singur, the Left Front came down heavily on her demand that ancillary units be shifted across the highway opposite to the project site.
Banerjee, who rejected Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee's offer of 70 acres inside the Singur project site for 'unwilling' farmers, said her party would wait till the state Governor returned from Delhi on September 19 to announce a decision on reviving the agitation at Singur.
She accused the West Bengal government of reneging on a 'gentleman's agreement' reached on September 7 to resolve the issue and said her party would organise a march to the Tata Motors project site on Tuesday.
"What the chief minister suggested on Friday is one-sided and unilateral," Banerjee said.
While pointing out that she favoured further talks, Banerjee also wanted to know why the Singur Land Search Committee's meeting did not take place during the day.
"The CPI-M is out to set fire and we have to do the fire-fighting," she said.
Left Front Chairman Biman Bose rejected all charges made by Banerjee and said "further land cannot be allotted". He was speaking to reporters after an emergency meeting at which the chief minister was present.
The West Bengal government's new package comprises 67 acres from the project site, and an additional 50 per cent compensation for willing and unwilling land losers.
Registered bargadars, or share croppers, would get 25 per cent and the unregistered ones 300 days of wages. A package for periphery development was also placed before Banerjee.
The new package will be published in newspapers tomorrow. Bose urged the unwilling land losers to come forward and accept the package.
That Nano has finally hit a dead-end became evident with Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi also stepping in for the second time today and asking all sides to show a spirit of accommodation.
"I believe, given the will, a solution can still be found in a manner that accords with the law, safeguards the interests of farmers, of the small car factory and, going beyond, helps in establishing the farm-factory balance that we so vitally need," he said.
