Kolkata, December 26
BJP President Rajnath Singh who met Mamata Banerjee on the 23rd day of her fasting at the Esplanade dharna manch for the second time today warned Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and the CPM that they would be fully responsible if something serious happened to her due her prolonged fasting.
Ms Banerjee suffered a serious respiratory problem and was on oxygen.
Worried over her deteriorating health, some 30 TMC MLAs, who were holding an urgent meeting at the state Assembly, suddenly suspended the meeting and marched to Writers Buildings to protest against the Chief Minister's attitude towards their demands in support of poor farmers.
The MLAs were, however, arrested and taken to Lal Bazar.
The BJP President declared at the dharna manch that the NDA would hold an urgent meeting at the residence of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in New Delhi tomorrow to discuss the Singur issue vis-à-vis Ms Banerjee's fasting. He said Ms Banerjee's health was critical and she was not in ‘a proper conscious condition’.
Mr Singh had flown to Kolkata this morning after the end of the BJP's national conference in Lucknow and spent about an hour at the dharna manch and told her that they all were by her side. He wanted to communicate with her, but she did not properly respond.
He said they were all worried about her health and the Chief Minister should now come out with a solution to the problem, which he himself had created by forcibly acquiring the multi-crop lands at Singur for Tata Motors. Mr Singh said only the barren lands and if needed, some mono-crop lands could be acquired for industries, and that too on the consent of the owners, but certainly not any multi-crop lands, he stressed.
The Chief Minister today admitted that the agitation and Ms Banerjee's fasting on the Singur were sending a wrong signal to the industrialists. He once again requested the Trinamool leader to call off the fast and come to the talking table, adding that he was ready to discuss anything with her.
But at this stage he was unable to ask Mr Ratan Tata to go back because
the lands at Singur could be given to him, he pointed out.
