Calcutta, Aug. 5: Bengal industry wants development to be depoliticised but won’t say so in unison.

A business chamber today issued an appeal for political amity on industrialisation but seven others are preparing to release another statement tomorrow.

The content of the two messages is expected to be more or less similar. But divisions have cropped up apparently over the inclusion of the word Singur as some industrialists were not willing to single out an issue and court controversy.

The statement issued today by the Bengal National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BNCCI) expressed “serious concern at politicisation of development issues in Bengal”.

The release did not refer to Singur but mentioned the “recent tussle centred around a major manufacturing unit”.

It struck a balance by referring to a bandh called on August 20 without mention-ing the sponsors — Left-backed unions — of the shutdown.

“The chamber strongly feels that the ruling and the Opposition parties should settle their disputes by sitting across the table. Such a practice should not be confined to a particular project but made a matter of regular practice whenever proposals of big investment are contemplated,” said K.K. Navada, the president of the BNCCI.

In 2006, when the Singur controversy was bubbling up to the surface, all the eight big chambers in the city had come together to issue a joint appeal.

“We want to put up a joint face and voice of the Bengal industry and, therefore, have jointly decided to issue the statement tomorrow,” said Anupam Shah, the president of the Merchants’ Chamber of Commerce.