Mamata put on oxygen;Buddhadeb dismisses rolling back

Kolkata, Dec 26 (UNI) Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee was put on oxygen after her health deteriorated on the 23rd day of her hunger strike today even as Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee asserted that he would not go back on the Tatas' small car project.

Ms Banerjee, fasting in protest against acquisition of agriculturual land at Singur for the proposed project, was put on oxygen for some time in the evening after she complained of breathlessness.

Earlier, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Rajnath Singh visited the venue of Ms Banerjee's hunger strike in the city's downtown Esplanade area and declared unflinching support of the National Democratic Alliance to her movement.

''Mamata felt pain on the left side of her chest. She was given oxygen. She felt a little better afterwards,'' a party member announced over microphone from the podium.

Party leader Dr Kakali Ghosh Dastidar monitored her condition and advised to put her on oxygen.

Later Opposition Leader in the state Assembly Partha Chatterjee said, ''Despite breathing problems, Mamata will continue her fast and not withdraw till the state government returns the land forcibly acquired from the Singur farmers.'' Earlier in the day, party colleague Dr Nirmal Majhi checked the leader's health and said her weight had gone down and pulse rate was low.

Previously, Ms Banerjee had sent back a team of government doctors dispatched by the administration to check her health at the dharna manch.

She had also turned down repeated requests to withdraw fasting by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the state Chief Minister, among others sticking to her point that the Government concede the demand first.

As against the assertion of the Chief Minister that no land had been forcibly taken over from Singur farmers, the Trinamool leader insisted about 50 per cent of the total 947 acre of land acquired for the Tata Motors' project had been taken away without the consent of owners.

The Chief Minister reaffirmed at a programme of Bengal Chamber of Commerce in the morning that there was no going back on the project.

''I am ready for talks with her anytime and at any place so that there is a consensus and no wrong message goes outside the state. But I cannot tell Ratan Tata sorry, I can not give you land at Singur...I can not go back on the project, we must go ahead,'' he said.

He also rapped the opposition for behaving ''irresponsibily'' on the Singur issue.

Meanwhile, joining the Singur bandwagon and throwing weight behind the fasting Trinamool leader, BJP President Rajanath Singh pledged to intensify Ms Banerjee's movement in the country. He said the NDA would decide its course of action on the issue at an urgent meeting tomorrow.

''I want to tell Mamata that she is not alone. I have spoken to Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Mr L K Advani. We want to spread the protest countrywide,'' he said while speaking from dharna manch of the Trinamool chief.

''If anything happens to Mamata, the only person to be held responsible will be the West Bengal Chief Minister. The whole nation would blame him for any eventuality,'' he said.

Shortly after Mr Singh's address, several Trinamool Congress legislators, including Leader of the Opposition Partha Chatterjee courted arrest while staging a demonstration in front of the state Secretariat protesting the Government's 'inaction' in ending the impasse.

Holding placards and shouting slogans, a band of party workers and leaders grappled with a large posse of policemen as they tried to surge towards the central gate of the Writers' Building during the snap demonstration.

Senior Trinamool leaders Saugata Roy and Sovandeb Chatterjee were among others arrested.

Talks went round throughout the day about a possible feeler from the Chief Minister coming to Ms Banerjee for an end to the hunger strike, but no such move had been made till late evening.

Trinamool Congress supporters disrupted rail services for some time by stopping the Howrah-bound Rajdhani Express in the morning and protesting before a Tata Motors outlet in Howrah as part of their agitational programme.

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