Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi announcing fresh talks in Raj Bhavan after Saturday’s exercise remained inconclusive. Picture by Amit Datta

Calcutta, Sept. 6: The Singur talks are deadlocked and the governor is pinning hopes on separate meetings with Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Mamata Banerjee to rescue his peace initiative.

The talks hit a rough patch today despite the Trinamul Congress and the government shifting from their original positions. However, little progress has been made on the most important issue: Mamata wants a solution involving land inside the project area, which the Tatas have said could not be conceded.

Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi is planning to have meetings with the chief minister and Mamata on Sunday. However, till late this evening, the governor’s invitation to Mamata urging her to visit him at her convenience had not evoked any response.

The timing of the next round of delegation-level talks will depend on the outcome of the governor’s meetings with the chief minister and Mamata, if at all the one with the Trinamul leader takes place.

Sources said the objective of Gandhi’s planned interface with Bhattacharjee was to ascertain whether the government would engage itself, along with him, in an effort to explore the possibility of the Tatas releasing some land.

“Once the governor gets a cogent idea, he may decide to speak to the Tatas,” an official said, although the business group has said in no uncertain terms that land could not be returned.

If the governor succeeds in persuading Mamata to interact with him, he will strive to gauge her “realistic” expectations. Gandhi will also try to get the Trinamul leader and Bhattacharjee to be present at the talks on Monday. A positive response from the two could also advance the third round of delegation talks to Sunday.

In Singur, Mamata requested “Tatababus” to ensure the survival of farmers without specifically mentioning whether it could be done only through the return of land.

“I am confident that our discussions, all through marked by frankness and cordiality, will eventually lead to a satisfactory conclusion,” Gandhi said. “I trust the discussion will lead to a satisfactory conclusion either tomorrow or Monday.”

The words were being seen as part of an attempt to prevent the breakdown of talks, which had several stormy moments today.

A Raj Bhavan statement referring to a land-based scheme “in and around” the Singur project site had also raised some eyebrows in the government and the CPM which have ruled out returning plots from within the project area.

“On the second day of discussion today, the two panels representing the government and the Opposition respectively went into greater detail on the prospects of a land-based rehabilitation scheme in and around the Singur project site,” the Raj Bhavan statement said.

The same issue — land-based rehabilitation in the project area — was the rock that Saturday’s talks, held in two parts over more than four hours, ran into.

In a departure from his earlier opposition to land-for-land compensation, industries minister Nirupam Sen offered 140 acres, including around 40 acres inside the walled compound but not part of the main plant and the vendor park, to be commercially developed to ensure income for landlosers. The 40-acre stretch (estimates vary from 47 to 38) is located in such a way that it offers room for debate on whether it falls inside or outside the project complex.

However, frost crept in when Trinamul, which is viewing the land as part of the project area, demanded more land within the complex. The government side replied that the Tatas had already ruled out such a possibility.

“It is your problem if you can’t make the Tatas see reason after the huge concessions you have given them,” a source quoted Trinamul team leader Partha Chatterjee as saying. The governor swiftly stepped in, asking Trinamul leaders to “soften your approach”.