Kolkata: October 3, 2008 - Will he or won’t he? None other than Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata has the answer to this month-long guessing game that has kept the government and ancillary units on tenterhooks since Tata Motors suspended operations at the Nano factory in Singur on September 2.  

All eyes are now fixed on the one-on-one meeting between Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Tata, which is going on in Kolkata.

Everyone is expecting a positive answer . Tata’s reply to the CM’s letter and his coming down to Kolkata have raised hopes both here and in Singur.

“We want the factory to come up. An assurance from the Tatas would be the best Puja gift for us,” said Prodyut Das of Uttar Bajemelia village in Singur. Even former India skipper and Tata employee Sourav Ganguly has written to his employer to stay on in Singur.

On the eve of this crucial meeting, the chief minister had a talk with all members of the CPM state secretariat at Alimuddin Street to find ways to address Tata’s worries, especially his concern regarding the safety and security of his employees.

The CM has already written to the Tata Group chairman, promising all help, including security at the Nano plant.

During his meeting with Ratan Tata, Bhattacharjee is expected to convey the feelings of the people at large, and a large section of the farmers in Singur who want the Nano factory to come up. The CM will request Tata to honour the people’s urge that has been expressed from time to time.

Politicians have had their day. From Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to the CM and even rabble-rouser Mamata Banerjee, everyone wants the Tatas to stay in West Bengal.

The PM has said there is still hope for a resolution and Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi said on Thursday that West Bengal “deserved a solution” to the Singur impasse. But none of them has been able to work out a tangible formula to make the industrialist stay as “a good corporate citizen of West Bengal”.

The political scene has not improved even after the chief minister called an all-party meeting. Mamata stayed away from it. And, Congress did a volte-face at the meeting when its representative Subrata Mukherjee endorsed Trinamool’s land-for-land demand and also wanted the Tatas to consider shifting the vendor park out of the Nano project compound.

The Tatas — and the government — insist that the park is integral to the Nano plan.

“Vendors took the land on lease as we did. They are part of the composite Nano plan. The plan has been so chalked out to keep the pricing low. They will employ large numbers of people. More investments will follow in terms of tier II, tier III segments,” Tata had said during his last visit to the city.

He said he wouldn’t compromise with the “safety and security of Tata Motors employees, equipment and the viability of the project” and refused to resume operations under police protection.

Tata Motors officials have their own assessment of the Singur situation, an exercise they began after the ruling CPM was routed in the panchayat election in Singur. Since then, they are keeping a close watch on the daily developments without banking on government feedback alone.

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