Nandigram damage-control: CPM blames outsiders

8220;This is a political battle and has nothing to do with land acquisition and SEZs8230;.armed gangs are moving around and we plan to take up the issue politically,8221; said Yechury. The party8217;s response was a 24-hour bandh in the area from 5 pm and a people8217;s mobilisation programme to generate awareness on the issue.

Maintaining that firing began from the other side, Yechury pointed out that today8217;s incidents came after the issue had already been settled 8212; that there would be no land acquisition unless people were willing. Brinda Karat said: 8220;We won8217;t take a single bigha in Nandigram if the peasants don8217;t want it.8221;

Meanwhile, the BJP has demanded a judicial or Parliamentary inquiry into the incident with party president Rajnath Singh holding Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and his government responsible. 8220;It is a matter of grave concern that in the last three months Nandigram has seen two major incidents of violence, due to the high handedness of the CM. The situation seems to be going out of control,8221; Singh said today.