Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday claimed that it was not her but the CPI(M) which drove away Tata Motors from Singur. Addressing a 'Bijaya Samillani' or post-Durga Puja meeting in Siliguri, Banerjee said she only returned the land to the people that was forcibly acquired by the former Left Front government for the Tata Motors' Nano factory in Singur in Hooghly district. "There are people who are spreading canards that have driven away the Tatas from West Bengal. I did not force them away, but it was the CPI(M) which drove them away," she said at the government function, adding that she thought of not making any political statement at the programme.


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"You (CPI(M)) forcibly took land from the people for the project, we returned that land to the people. We have done so many projects, but never taken any land forcibly from anybody. Why should we take land forcibly? There is no dearth of land here," she added.


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West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has come under attack from all the opposition parties in the state, including the BJP, Congress and CPI(M), for her remarks blaming CPI(M). CPI(M) central committee member Sujan Chakraborty said that if there is any doctorate for expertise in making false statements, the Chief Minister will be the only contender for it.



"She makes false statements throughout the day and the latest example is her remark that CPI(M) was responsible for ousting the small car project from Singur. Does she mean to say that it was not her but former Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee who was responsible for staging protest against the project," Chakraborty asked.


BJP Lok Sabha member from Hooghly, Locket Chatterjee, said that probably Mamata Banerjee will now claim that she became the Chief Minister because of pressure from CPI(M).


"She (Banerjee) has been making false statements for the last 11 years. She promised that she would return the Singur land to the farmers after reviving them in original fertile conditions. Yes, she has returned the land but farming is no longer possible there," Chatterjee said.


Congress Rajya Sabha member Pradip Bhattacharya said that Banerjee and her party had ensured that Tata Motors didn`t start manufacturing in Singur at any cost. "So what is the point of blaming the CPI(M) now," he asked.


(With agency inputs)