CPI to seek its 'right', ask CPM to come clean on Singur deal
Citing the Right to Information Act, the CPI will ask the CPM to spell out details of the agreement and will insist that fertile land should not be used for the project.
By TNN |
NEW DELHI: The CPM will face pressure from Left Front allies to be transparent on the Tata deal in Singur. Citing the Right to Information Act, the CPI will ask the CPM to spell out details of the agreement and will insist that fertile land should not be used for the project.
The CPI is planning to present its wish list at the Left Front meeting in Kolkata on Friday. The CPI central secretariat, which met here on Tuesday, has made up its mind to confront West Bengal Marxist leaders on Tata’s small car project, while trying to preserve Left unity.
The Left Front constituent’s demand will not be palatable to the CPM, which has described the deal as a trade secret. Members of the smaller constituents of the CPM-led Left Front in the state have not been taken into confidence on the deal, which has brought differences within the coalition to the fore.
Sensing that this could hurt the image of the Buddhadeb government, party veteran Jyoti Basu has asked his party leaders to take all Left Front constituents into confidence on state government policies.
Mr Basu’s remarks about protecting the Left Front “like your eyeballs” have pleased the CPI, but there may not be too many takers for his word of caution in the state CPM. Some damage has already been done, with state commerce and industry minister Nirupam Sen refusing to reveal details of the agreement.
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The CPI central secretariat, while favouring industrialisation, was of the view that it should not be at the cost of agricultural land, and that only wasteland or the land occupied by closed industries should be used for such projects.The party has already submitted a memorandum raising several questions about the deal.
The Singur farmers have been protesting against the proposed acquisition of multi-crop land for the Tata project. The CPM, which has itself opposed use of multi-crop land for SEZs, has admitted that some variation may have taken place in the 900 acres of “basically mono-crop land” identified for the project.
Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya and the CPI have already had a row on the issue with the former being dismissive of the CPI’s demand for transparency in allotment of land to the Tatas, Salim Group and Reliance.
The CPI has also decided to join the movement against the Navin Patnaik government in Orissa alleging that the “entire state has been put on sale” and those farmers were not being given any compensation.
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