Mamata's condition stable after respectable retreat

Kolkata, Dec 29 (UNI) The condition of Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, who ended her 25 days' hunger strike midnight last night, was stable even though she was still under oxygen support at a South Kolkata nursing home today.

''Her condition is stable. She has mild chest pain. But there is nothing to worry about her overall condition. She is still on oxygen support with saline drips going on,'' Dr Sudarshan Ghosh Dastidar, one of the physicians attending on her, said.

Dr Ghosh Dastidar said Ms Banerjee would have to be in the ICCU under medical care for a few more days.

After a prolonged fast Mamata's condition started deteriorating from the 22nd day as her blood pressure had gone down reportedly to an alarming level, pulse rate hovered between 46 and 58 and she kept lying at the dharna manch for the last three days of her hunger strike which she started on December 4 in protest against acquisition of farmlands at Singur for Tata Motros' small car project.

Yesterday she suffered muscle cramp for what her party colleagues said dehydration.

Ms Banerjee had repeatedly refused medical assistance from a team of doctors sent by the West Bengal Government earlier saying she had no faith in the administration. Two of her party colleagues, who themselves are medical practitioners, were looking after the leader's health before her family physician took over.

But after having gone ahead with the demand for scrapping the car project where land had already been acquired, Ms Banerjee refused to give in without a gain as she climbed down to a call for returning to the farmers 406 acres out of total 960 acres of Singur land acquired so far by the government which, she alleged, had been forcibly taken away.

Though Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee asserted that no plot had been acquired without consent and invited Ms Banerjee for talks to ascertain facts, she insisted that the government first fulfil her demand before any dialogue begins.

The situation boiled to a point of no return with both sides remaining unmoved. Though requesting "Didi" a number of times to call off the hunger strike and join negotiation, the chief minsiter said in clear terms that the Tata project would come up at Singur and nowhere else.

With Mamata becoming a prisoner of her own words, repeated appeals by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, former prime minister V P Singh, and Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi fell flat on her.

As her health deteriorated fast, anxious party colleagues were eager to find a way out to avoid a possibole tragedy by evolving a solution for glorious retreat of their party supremo. They had been holding unofficial talks with the state government, which was also in touch with the Centre, equally willing to break the deadlock.

After the chief minister talked to him seeking help to end the impasse, the prime minister directed the Eastern Naval command keep vigil on Ms Banerjee's condition and keep ready a team of doctors.

Meanwhile, leaders of the NDA of which the AITC is a partner, met President APJ Abdul Kalam at the Rashtrapati Bhawan seeking his intervention.

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