Congress not to participate in all party meeting without agenda

Kolkata, May 15 (UNI) Sticking to the party's stand, The West Bengal Pradesh Congress today decided that it would not participate in the proposed all party meeting on Nandigram issue without an agenda.

''We are satisfied that the state government has accepted the opposition parties demand to convene the meeting at the state level.

But our stand is clear that the Congress will participate in the meeting if it has an agenda,'' PCC working president Pradip Bhattacharjee said. Mr Bhattacharjee made this observation on the sidelines of a sit-in called by Chattra Parishad, the student wing of Congress.

The sit-in was organised in protest against the Nandigram incidents, demanding arrest of the culprits and reopening of closed tea gardens.

He said All India Forward Bloc state secretary Ashok Ghosh had called former PCC president Somen Mitra and urged him to join the proposed meeting. ''We have submitted our stand to the veteran leader, '' he said.

''We have not yet received any official communication from the government for joining the meeting. The government should also announce the agenda of the meeting before calling it,'' Mr Bhattacharjee observed.

UNI