Tatas to stay & more Singurs will come up in state, says CM

KOLKATA: West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee swept back his silver locks and declared from a public platform on Tuesday: ���There is no question of the Tatas rolling out of Singur. Neither will the Tatas roll out nor will the government take a U-turn on the decision to establish the small car factory at Singur.���

What the chief minister might have meant by saying roll out, was actually pull out. Mr Bhattacharjee was addressing a CPM gathering in the city on Tuesday evening to mark the 120th birth anniversary of Muzaffar Ahmed, one of the founder members of the Communist Party in India.

���You need not be worried about the Tata project at Singur. It will be constructed at the same site and it is impossible for the government to return the land as demanded by the Trinamool Congress,��� Mr Bhattacharjee told the gathering amid loud cheers from the audience. He also urged the Trinamool Congress to give up the ���irrational��� demand of returning the land to the farmers and join talks with the government in the interest of the state.

���We need more automobile units in our state. A number of such units are in the pipeline and all of them will come to our state once the Tata begins production of their small car at Singur. Only one project is not enough. More and more Singur will come up in West Bengal,��� Mr Bhattacharjee said, hinting that his government will not give up the path of industrialisation amid protest by the Trinamool Congress at Singur.

His assurance came after the state home secretary Ashok Mohan Chakraborty visited Singur to make an on spot inquiry and gave the chief minister a verbal report on the current political situation at Singur. Mr Chakraborty told reporters at the Writers��� Buildings that he had suggested the Tatas to beef up their own security network around their Nano factory. ���At the same time, our government will also strengthen security rings in and around the car project in Singur ,��� Mr Chakraborty added.

The chief minister said the Trinamool Congress had opposed the acquisition of land for the Hyatt Regency. The party had also attempted to prevent construction of a cultural complex at Rawdon Square in the city, but all these projects have ultimately come up, he said. There is no doubt that Singur project will also come up despite opposition by the Trinamool Congress, the chief minister added.

He also attempted to throw light on the Centre-state relations in the wake of CPM���s withdrawal of support to the UPA government . ���Many people ask me whether our party���s decision to withdraw support to the UPA government will hamper West Bengal���s interests. I want to tell one thing clearly that why should our state suffer out of our party���s decision of withdrawing support ? The government in Delhi is an elected government and so is our state government . Then why should our government suffer,��� asked the chief minister.

���We run our government under a federal structure and has never made any irrational demand to the Centre. We wanted another big airport in our state. We want a deep sea port in West Bengal. Do you think all such demands are irrational��� asked the chief minister.

He also said ���if the Centre does not accept all the demands raised by the state government then they will harm not only the interest of West Bengal, but also of the entire country. If the Congress wants to do that then we are helpless.���

Veteran CPM leader Jyoti Basu was also supposed to address the party gathering on Tuesday evening. But he did not turn up due to indisposition. Mr Basu, however, issued a statement saying the opposition parties in West Bengal have only one intention to topple the government.