Prime minister dials governor, tells him to hang up

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is learned to have spoken to West Bengal Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi and expressed concern over his strong statements on the recent firing on farmers at Nandigram. The opposition had used the statements to put the state and central governments in the dock.

The governor had said that he watched the violence with "cold horror" and that he had spoken of the possibility of occurrance of such an incident a few days before the firing.

The opposition had lapped up the statement and pointed out that the CPI(M)-led state government had ignored the governor's warnings.

The Centre has been feeling the heat on the incident not just in Parliament but also outside. "The government feels that as a governor, Gandhi should express his opinion to the chief minister of the state, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, instead of releasing statements to the press," said a top source in the government.

The prime minister is under pressure from the CPI(M)'s top leadership, which has already expressed its displeasure over the governor's remarks. The prime minister reminded the governor of his "delicate constitutional position."

Although the Congress is a little divided on the issue of Nandigram, the Central government has been finding it tough to balance its political compulsions in the state and at the Centre.

"The Centre is anxious to make sure that the Left does not feel slighted," said a source. "With nearly 60 MPs, they are important allies," he added.

Gandhi's appointment was welcomed by the CPI(M) at first. This, however, changed when he visited Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee at the time she was on a hunger strike against the acquisition of land for the Tata Motors' plant in Singur.

"The governor visited her not once but twice and it was not viewed in a positive light by the CPI(M)-led West Bengal government," said a senior minister in the government.

"His latest statement on Nandigram has been made much of by the opposition and this has been taken up by both CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat and Rajya Sabha MP Sitaram Yechury," said the source.