BJP team to visit Nandigram today

Kolkata, Jan 10 (UNI) A five-member BJP parliamentary delegation led by senior party leader Sushma Swaraj, arrived here today on its way to strife-torn Nandigram in West Midnapore for an on the spot assessment of the situation following trouble over the reported move for farmland acquisition for Special Economic Zone (SEZ).

Demanding that no SEZ should come up on agricultural land, Ms Swaraj said the BJP had already taken a stand on this issue.

''There must not SEZ on agricultural land. It can be set up only on fallow land because there is the question of food security. This is the declared policy of the party'', she told reporters.

Observing that acquisition of farmland for SEZs would endanger food security, the BJP leader said the party's decision on the matter was based on the report of a committee chaired by former president Venkaiah Naidu.

BJP president Rajnath Singh, who was in the city yesterday, had announced that National Democratic Alliance (NDA) would take up for discussion the Nandigram issue on the basis of the report of the BJP delegation.

UNI