Peace talks suffer blow; all-party meet adjourned

Kolkata, May 24 (UNI) The peace talks on Nandigram today suffered a blow when the all-party meeting was adjourned after Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee walked out following disagreement with the CPI(M).

After the 90 minute meeting, attended by most of the political parties, Ms Banerjee and her associates left the venue in a huff when CPI(M)'s Subash Chakraborty refused to term the March 14 police firing in Nandigram ''genocide.'' Ms Banerjee demanded that the incident, which claimed at least 14 lives, be considered as a case of genocide. She said there was no need of the meeting if the CPI(M) refused to comply with its demand.

The Trinamool supremo was accompanied by the leader of Opposition Partha Chatterjee and AITC leader Sisir Adhikary among others.

CPI(M) Central Committee member Shyamal Chakraborty, CPI(M) State Secretariat member Madan Ghosh, Transport Minister Subhash Chakraborty, CPI State Secretary Manju Kumar Majumdar, Pradesh Congress Working President Pradip Bhattacharjee, former PCC chief Somen Mitra, Congress Legislature Party leader Manas Bhunia, convener and Forward Bloc state Secretary Ashok Ghosh and RSP Minister Kshiti Goswami were among the political leaders who participated in the meeting.

The crucial meet was convened by Mr Ashok Ghosh to evolve ways to reach a consensus on bringing back normality in Nandigram.

The area remained a political hotbed for more than four months over the issue of setting up of a chemical hub wedging a sharp political divide among the local people, triggering unabated violence even though the Left Front Government later backed out on the project.

The unrest stalled all economic and development activities in Nandigram and even flouted the writ of the administration.

EDS: Here pick up suitably from earlier series.

UNI