Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Thursday appealed to the Opposition Trinamool Congress to return to the Legislative Assembly, which the party has been boycotting since July 12 to protest a comment made by him about the leader of the Opposition.
“If my remarks have hurt you, I ask your forgiveness,” Bhattacharjee told the Assembly on Thursday. “But please return and join the proceedings.”
No TMC member was present in the House when Bhattacharjee offered his apologies. At that moment, the TMC members were creating a ruckus in the Assembly’s lobby demanding the resignation of the chief minister over the March 14 police firing at Nandigram in which 14 villagers died and the “forcible” land acquisition at Singur last acquisition.
On July 12, Bhattacharjee, while replying to the debate on the home department’s budget, had called upon the
Opposition leaders to come forward and speak to him openly, instead of seeking secret talks.
The Opposition had taken umbrage at his implication that the TMC’s Partha Chatterjee, the leader of the Opposition in the House, is afraid of his boss, TMC chief Mamata Banerjee. Chatterjee, considered by the CPI(M) to be a reasonable person, is known to have spoken to and met the chief minister in secret to discuss the Nandigram and Singur issues.
“I had made that comment not to hurt you; I wanted to say that we have an open atmosphere in which we can discuss everything openly, exchange letters freely and call up each other whenever required,” Bhattacharjee said.
“I want our relationship with the Opposition to be more democratic, and hence my comment of July 12,” Bhattacharjee said.
The chief minister was replying to the debate over the budget for one of departments, personnel and administrative reforms, when he began talking of Nandigram on his own.
He said the opposition should let the administration function smoothly at Nandigram since it is the common man who is being affected most badly.
Since January, villagers protesting against the government’s now-abandoned land acquisition plans had thrown out the administration, police and CPI(M) supporters. This culminated in the police firing of March 14, when the administration made an abortive bid to re-enter the area.
“I do not want any part of West Bengal to become another Nandigram,” Bhattacharjee said. “We need a peaceful atmosphere for our task of industrialization.”
However, the TMC’s Chatterjee told reporters later that the boycott was not his decision, but the party’s.
The TMC had decided then not only to boycott the proceedings but also the chief minister and all functions at which he is present. “Any decision as to whether we will withdraw the boycott will be taken by the Party,” he said. “I cannot say anything.”