BJP demands judicial inquiry

Bharatiya Janata Party president Rajnath Singh on Wednesday demanded a judicial or parliamentary probe into the police firing in West Bengal on Wednesday which left 11 dead and several injured. He said the State Government no longer had the moral authority to continue in office.

Holding West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and his Government responsible for the incident, Mr. Singh said it was a matter of grave concern that in the last three months Nandigram had seen two major incidents of violence because of the high-handedness of the Chief Minister.

In a statement, Mr. Singh said: "A government which has no respect for farmers' sentiments and wishes to respond with police firing leading to unfortunate deaths has no moral authority to continue.'' Also, he described as ironical that while people were dying in Nandigram, the Chief Minister went ahead and announced the Singur-Tata project in the State Assembly.