Aftershocks in House, UPA meet to focus on Bengal

Yesterday's police firing in Nandigram that killed 15 farmers echoed through Parliament today as the Opposition, including the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Trinamool Congress and the Shiv Sena, caused repeated disruptions. The issue will also be uppermost on the agenda when the United Progressive Alliance convenes on March 23.

Both Houses of Parliament were adjourned without transacting any business. Finance Minister P Chidambaram could not give his scheduled reply to the debate on the Budget in the Lok Sabha.

Under attack from the Opposition parties and abandoned by the Congress and other constituents of the United Progressive Alliance, members of the cornered Communist Party of India (Marxist) looked vulnerable as they watched the slogan-shouting Opposition and silent Treasury benches. MPs belonging to the Left Front chose to keep quiet.

Outside Parliament, Railway Minister Lalu Prasad said the political fallout of the Nandigram violence and the effect of inflation on the electoral prospects of the UPA allies would be the focus of the UPA's meeting next week.

Prasad added that his party, the Rashtriya Janata Dal, would be sending a three-member delegation to review the situation in Nandigram, adding that the issue of inflation would also be taken up at the UPA meeting.

At Jantar Mantar, the National Alliance of People's Movements leaders, including Medha Patkar, staged a demonstration vowing to continue their fight against the "capitalist government" in West Bengal.

The central leadership of the CPI(M), however, tried to put up a brave front. Politburo member Brinda Karat said in the past two-and-a-half months, the administration had not been able to function in Nandigram and this situation could not be allowed to go on.

West Bengal had been planning to order a judicial inquiry into yesterday's incident but since the Calcutta High Court had directed a CBI inquiry, "We have no problem," she said.

Public pronouncements notwithstanding, the CPI(M) leadership is not pleased with the turn of events in Kolkata. The issue of land acquisition, including its methods, in West Bengal would come up for discussion at the politburo and central committee meetings from March 31 to April 2, said party sources.

Leader of the Opposition LK Advani demanded that Article 355, which seeks the central government's intervention in law and order in a state, be invoked in West Bengal. He also demanded an all-party parliamentary fact-finding mission be sent to Nandigram.

Congress MPs from West Bengal today met Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and made a strong plea that the All India Congress Committee take a serious view of the Nandigram incident and send a delegation to the state, according to Parliamentary Affairs Minister PR Dasmunshi.

This suggestion came at a time when the West Bengal Congress has demanded the resignation of Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and dismissal of the state government.