Mamata relents; ready for talks with WB Govt

By Debasis Nandy , Anshuman Roy and Sougata Mukhopadhyay , CNBC-TV18

West Bengal Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi's repeated attempts to persuade Mamata Banerjee for talks have finally succeeded to some extent. Singur 's future rests on how the Trinamool leader and the State Government resolve the issue.

 

The Bengal Governor's attempt has met with limited success. Responding to Gopal Krishna Gandhi's letter, Mamata Banerjee has agreed for further talks. However, she has ruled out his suggestion of an impartial mediator between the government and herself and insisted that her 'dharna' and the talks could proceed simultaneously.

 

An 18 member delegation from the Singur dharna platform met the Governor at Kolkata's Raj Bhavan to communicate their views. The Congress has though, remained non committal.

 

Pranab Mukherjee, External Affairs Minister said that the interests of both workers and farmers need to be protected. He further said that the Centre will not interfere but both industry and agriculture are needed.

 

Meanwhile, National Highway 2 near the project site remained out of bounds for vehicular traffic despite the Calcutta High Court order to clear the congestion. The Left Front has called another all party meeting to address the Singur logjam and Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee reiterated his call for an amicable settlement.

 

Depite her conditions, Mamata Banerjee's softened stance to take the Singur talks forward following the governor's intervention has kept the solution possibility open. It now remains on the Bengal government on how it takes her cue and drafts the negotiation agenda that is acceptable to Banerjee and her supporters.

 

Meanwhile, Tata Motors has said that they have not received any word from Trinamool Congress on Singur talks, reported Newswire18.