'No land acquisition in Nandigram; police to be withdrawn'

Updated at 2.20PM

KOLKATA: In a damage control, the ruling Left Front in West Bengal on Saturday patched up differences within the partners declaring that no land would be acquired for industry in Nandigram and police forces withdrawn in phases.
 
''The meeting has decided that land will not be acquired for industry in Nandigram. Also the police forces stationed in the areas at present will be withdrawn in phases. On behalf of the Left Front a political and social process will be started to restore normalcy in Nandigram,'' Left Front Committee Chairman Biman Basu told reporters after a two and half hour meeting. 

Representatives of all the Front partners, including Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and CPI(M) patriarch Jyoti Basu were present.

The meeting is an extension of the one held on March 15 when the vociferous partners-Forward Bloc, RSP and CPI raised a storm over the March 14 Nandigram police firing in which 14 people were killed.

Saturday's meeting turned out to be the most crucial in the history of 30 years of Left Front rule after the three smaller partners threatened to quit the ministry protesting the 'police atrocities' in Nandigram and demanding that they be taken into confidence before all important decisions are taken.