Dasgupta accuses BJP MP of misbehaviour

Raipur, Dec 30 (UNI) CPI MP Gurudas Dasgupta today accused BJP MP Baliram Kashyap of inciting people against him and added that the CPI was not against setting up of a Tata Steel plant in Bastar but its protest was over the land earmarked for the factory.

''Due to BJP workers' protest and the misbehaviour, I had to return sans being able to attend a protest meeting at Lohandiguda against acquisition of tribal farmland. If such force is applied in India, then our country will begin to resemble Pakistan. Slogans raised against me contained words that could not be part of a political protest,'' he told journalists here.

Warning that he would raise the misbehaviour and acquisition issues in Parliament, Mr Dagupta added that the CPI wanted the plant to be set up on barren land as was done at Durgapur, Bokaro and Bhilai.

''I demand Governor E S L Narasimhan's intervention. A steel plant will not lead to Bastar's development that can be brought about by agriculture and forest produce-based industry,'' he felt.

UNI