I cannot tell Tatas to go back now: Buddhadeb

West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has ruled out moving Tata Motors' small car project from Singur.

"I cannot roll back, cannot tell Ratan (Tata) that we cannot give land in Singur. We must go ahead," he said while addressing the annual general meeting of the Bengal Chamber of Commerce & Industry (BCCI).

A few kilometres away, in Esplanade, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee's fast against land acquisition for the project, entered the 23rd day today. With her health deteriorating in the evening, Banerjee had to be put on oxygen support.

Bhattacharjee said the agitation against the project was sending wrong signals to investors in the rest of the country. He said it was at the behest of the state government that the Tatas had decided to set up the project in Bengal.

"They had decided on Uttaranchal. I persuaded them to come to Bengal," he said. "The state government had identified Kharagpur for the project but Ratan Tata requested for a location closer to Kolkata," he added.

Blaming the Opposition for adverse impact on the investor-friendly image of West Bengal, Bhattacharjee said, "How can a government run with such an irresponsible Opposition. Before the project started, we had a long discussion with the leader of Opposition."

He said all efforts to break Banerjee's hunger strike had proved futile. "V P Singh met her, the prime minister sent an emissary, I sent two letters, but nothing has happened," he said.

Meanwhile, several Trinamool MLAs today courted arrest and staged a demonstration outside the state secretariat, claiming there was no government response to Banerjee's demand.

The party members also disrupted rail services for some time by stopping the Howrah-bound Rajdhani Express in the morning and agitating before a Tata Motors outlet in Howrah near here.

Life was paralysed in the southern part of Bankura district due to a strike called by Maoists to protest the state government's stand on Singur.