New Delhi, April 25 (PTI): Fresh controversy seems to be erupting over Korean steel major Posco?s $14-billion investment in Orissa.

The CPM has written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asking him to stop the deal even as the company is hopeful of inking an MoU in a month.

The letter written by senior CPM leader and Rajya Sabha MP Nilotpal Basu has asked Singh to intervene and ?put a halt to such an unusual concession offered by the Orissa government to a foreign company?.

Raising objections on the state?s move to sign the MoU, Basu said the party was ?opposed? to giving mining rights on one billion tonne of iron ore for exports without value addition.

?The proposed MoU would be against national interest keeping in view the demand for steel in both global and national economies,? he said.

When contacted, a Posco official said: ?We are waiting for Orissa. We conveyed our views to the Orissa government last week.... We are hopeful of signing the MoU within one month.?