Not too late to end Singur row: PM

ON BOARD PM's SPECIAL AIRCRAFT: As the West Bengal government makes a fresh effort to resolve the row over Tatas' Nano car project, Prime Minister Mahnmohan Singh Wednesday said it was not too late for a "negotiated settlement" that would be in the interests of the farmers and the investors.

"I don't want to apportion blame," the prime minister said in a mid-air press conference while returning from his 10-day visit to US and France.

"But I sincerely believe that even now it is not too late to find a negotiated settlement which would meet the concerns of those farmers who are agitating as well as the concerns of the investors that is the Tatas," he said.

"It's in the interest of (West) Bengal and the interest of India that the issue should be resolved satisfactorily," Manmohan Singh said.

The prime minister's remarks came a couple of days after the West Bengal government called an all-party meeting to find a solution to the land row that led to the suspension of work by Tata Motors at its Singur factory. The main opposition Trinamool Congress has, however, threatened to boycott the parleys.