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June 28: The Bengal unit of the BJP today blamed the Mamata Banerjee government for the Singur impasse, a move that captured the party’s exasperation with the chief minister after its failure to convince her to support P.A. Sangma as the presidential candidate.
A delegation led by state BJP president Rahul Sinha called on governor M.K. Narayanan and submitted a memorandum, which was loaded with criticism of Mamata.
“We are doing what we should be doing in Bengal as the Singur issue is extremely important for the state. Mamata Banerjee’s protests resulted in the exit of Tata Motors. Now, after becoming chief minister, she is again making mistakes, which will drive away investors,” Sinha said after the meeting with the governor.
He said he told Narayanan that the government was “mishandling” the Singur issue as the chief minister was treating it as a prestige fight.
A BJP source said the primary reason behind the high-pitched attack on Mamata — Sinha promised to intensify the campaign against the government — was her reluctance to support Sangma.
“We were confident that Mamata would rally around Sangma after declining to support Pranab Mukherjee. Several leaders spoke to her…. But now, it is almost certain that her party will abstain from voting. Our leaders are upset,” the BJP source said.
The memorandum also hints at the line of attack on Mamata, whom the BJP was trying to wean back into the NDA fold till last week.
“We had tried to prevail upon Mamata Banerjee not to take the (Singur) agitation to such a stage as might force Tata Motors to abandon the project. She of course, did not listen to us…. The result has been one more disincentive to industrialists to come to industry-starved and unemployment-affected West Bengal,” the memorandum said.
The criticism of the Trinamul chief for sending out a “dangerous signal to all prospective investors” is being viewed as the BJP’s attempt to position itself as an investor-friendly party ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
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