Peace gets a chance, courtesy CPM

http://www.thestatesman.net/page.arcview.php?date=2007-05-15&usrsess=1729188831841&clid=1&id=183691

Statesman News Service
KOLKATA, May 14: Peace has finally got a chance. Under pressure from the Trinamul and its own allies, the CPI-M today finally agreed to hold a state-level all-party meeting on Nandigram in the city.
The decision was taken at a crucial Left Front meeting this morning. A senior Front leader said that Mr Biman Bose, who had been insisting talks should be held in East Midnapore, changed his stance. After the meeting, Mr Bose told reporters that the venue for the talks and other technicalities would be jointly decided by him and Forward Bloc state secretary Mr Ashok Ghosh. “The two of us have been entrusted to work out the details. Mr Ghosh will talk to the Opposition,” Mr Bose said.
It was, however, apparent that as CPI-M state secretary Mr Bose still preferred to hold district-level talks in East Midnapore. “That was the decision we took at the last Left Front meeting. It would have been better since the problem lies in the district,” he said. The Front chairman lost his cool when he was asked whether the CPI-M led government would accept Miss Mamata Banerjee’s demand and offer a public apology for the 14 March killings. “The media is at liberty to pass any comment but I won’t say a word.” Miss Banerjee, who is in Delhi now, said she was happy that peace talks were going to take place at the state level.
Mr Jyoti Basu, who had initially advised his party to let the Front allies initiate the peace process, could not attend the meeting because of his failing health.
Meanwhile, Mr Buddh-adeb Bhattacharjee today made one more attempt to rebuild bridges with Left intellectuals who resigned from the state Natya Akademi in protest against police brutalities at Nandigram on 14 March.
The chief minister met Manoj Mitra, Bibhas Chakraborty, Kaushik Sen and others ostensibly to persuade them to withdraw their resignations, but the over two-hour-long meeting ended inconclusively. The meeting was convened by Mr Kumar Roy, chairman, Natya Akademi.

see also : http://development-dialogues.blogspot.com/2007/05/mamata-pleas-on-agenda.html