Trinamool to go ahead with bandh call

Kolkata, Oct 4 (UNI) Rejecting the appeal of Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, the Trinamool Congress today said it would go ahead with its call for a statewide 12-hour bandh on October 9 in protest against acquisition of agricultural land for the Tata Motors' small car project at Singur.

Party's senior leader Ajit Panja said at a press conference that the Congress would extend support to the proposed bandh.

'' We have decided to stick to our decision to continue our fight against the Left Front government's move to finish off the farmers,'' he said.

He said the party reduced the period of the bandh to 12 from 24 hours considering the holy month of Ramzan and examinations in educational institutions.

Essential services has been excluded from the purview of the bandh, which however, will cover the IT sector.

Earlier, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Left Front Chairman Biman Bose had appealed to the Trinamool Congress to withdraw the bandh call to facilitate movement of relief materials for the flood-hit people of the state.

But Mr Panja said Trinamool workers would take to the street to foil any Government move to frustrate the bandh.

'' The Government will be responsible for any eventuality if it tries to resist the bandh,'' he warned.

In reply to a question, Mr Panja said the Government should have called a global tender for the small car project at Singur.

While the SUCI has also extended support to the bandh, the CPI(ML) Liberation has given a separate call for a statewide bandh on October 9 on the issue.

KDG-AKM KK YA BD1912