CPI(M) top brass hold meet to placate Mamata

Kolkata, Jun 5 (UNI) In a bid to ensure that the industrialisation process was not derailed, the CPI(M) top brass, including Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, today met to discuss a comprehesive compensation package for the affected people of Nandigram and Singur.

The meeting, held at the residence of veteran leader Jyoti Basu, came a day after the CPI(M) patriarch and Trinamool leader Mamata Banerjee agreed to continue talks for restoration of peace in Nandigram and look into the demands for the aggrieved Singur farmers.

Besides the Chief Minister and Mr Basu, CPI(M) State Committee Secretary Biman Basu, Industry Minister Nirupam Sen, Land Revenue Minister Abdul Rezzak Molla and Housing Minister Gautam Deb attended the high-profile meeting.

Though none of the leaders spoke out, informed sources said the 50-minute meeting had a preliminary discussion on the possible ways to keep Ms Banerjee happy and hasten the process of industrialisation, including the small car project.

One of the measures the leaders talked about was to provide a comprehensive compensation and rehabilitation package for the families of those killed in the March 14 police firing and in the unabated political violence in Nandigram over the past five months.

They were also reportedly in favour of giving a nod to the demand of Ms Banerjee that the CBI inquiry into the March 14 incident be resumed.

While Ms Banerjee demanded the Government to return land to the 300 'unwilling' farmers of Singur, the meeting observed that such families could be rehabilitated in a nearby vested land, besides giving them the necessary compensation.

Mr Basu said yesterday that the demands of the Trinamool leader should be looked into while he extracted a promise from her to cooperate in bringing back 2,000-odd CPI(M) people, evicted in the political violence in Nandigram.

The meeting between the two top leaders of arch rival parties was significant in the background of the abortive all-party meeting on Nandigram, held on May 24.

The decision of Ms Banerjee not to join any peace talks, convened by the Government or the chief minister, forced Mr Basu to step in to break the stalemate.

UNI