Trinamool Congress suspendes senior Pande

Kolkata, Mar 8 (UNI) In the first show of rift within the party over the Singur issue, the Trinamool Congress Legislature Party today suspended senior member Sadhan Pande for allegedly violating the party line.

The Legislature Party was unanimous on the issue of suspension of Mr Pande for violating the party line on land acquisition at Singur.

''The suspension will remain in force till a further decision,'' Leader of the Opposition Partha Chatterjee told reporters after a Legislature Party meeting.

Mr Pande, once a close aide of party chief Mamata Banerjee, incurred the party's wrath after he publicly welcomed the Tata Motors's small car project at Singur, which has been at the centre of a storm in state politics with the Trinamool Congress spearheading an agitation against acquisition of agricultural land.

Ms Banerjee, who had gone on a 25-day hunger strike demanding that the project be shifted from the fertile Singur land, asserted that her ''fight'' would go on till the Left Front Government and the Tatas backed out of the project.

However, in what came as an embarrassment to the party, Mr Pande said last week that the small car project was very necessary for the state's industrial development.

The party had immediately dissociated itself from Mr Pande's observation and hinted at punitive measures against the leader for breaching party discipline.

UNI