Nano is a national wealth - Deve Gowda

Kolkata, Sep 24 (UNI) Describing the West Bengal Government's compensation package as one of the best, former Prime Minister and Janata Dal(Secular) president H D Deve Gowda today urged both Opposition Trinamool Congress and Left Front government for breaking the Singur stalemate amicably.

'' Tata Motors' small car Nano is a national wealth and the project is prestigious for the state. Several states, including his state Karnataka, are inviting the Tata Motors for setting up the project there. But if the Tatas pull out from Bengal, it will leave a cascading impact on the image of the state and the investors will feel shaky, '' Mr Gowda, who was here to visit ailing Marxist leader Jyoti Basu, told newspersons.

He said, '' I also had a talk with Mr Basu on Singur. I will welcome Tatas if they set up the small car factory in my home state, but as a former Prime Minister I don't want that the project be shifted from Bengal to Karnataka. '' '' Though an understanding was reached at Raj Bhavan in presence of Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi, but it has got a jolt due to land dispute within the project area. The unwilling farmers should not take the issue emotionally and if they nurture any grievance, they should hammer it out through discussion, '' the JD(S) president said.

He was full of praise for the state government's compensation and rehabilitation package and said other states should emulate West Bengal as a model.

He opined that both ruling and Opposition parties should make a compromise in this regard for the interest of the state's development and said it was not possible for any state to grow sans industrialisation.

To a query on the Third Front, he said the third alternative could be formed after the Lok Sabha election and it will depend on the role of other secular parties.

'' I am not interested in becoming the Prime Minister again and I am also not in the race. During 1997 veteran Marxist leader Jyoti Basu proposed my name for the post, '' he stated.

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