A policeman injured in the violence at Nandigram on Wednesday. Telegraph picture

Calcutta, Jan. 3: The CPM and the state government may now have to fight opposition from an ally over land acquisition at Nandigram.

CPI supporters joined Trinamul Congress, SUCI and Naxalite groups demonstrating in the village today.

As the news reached Cal-cutta, CPI leaders such as water resources minister Nandagopal Bhattacharya raised an alarm.

The party has a strong presence in the Midnapores. It not only holds Nandigram constituency but also neighbouring Patashpur and Panskura West and Tamluk.

Bhattacharya represents Dantan in West Midnapore.

Two party MPs, Gurudas Dasgupta and Probodh Panda, also hail from these two districts.

CPI general secretary A.B. Bardhan, who came to Calcutta today for the party’s national council meeting beginning here tomorrow, said the government should “learn a lesson” from Singur. “Nothing should be done in haste at Nandigram,” he added.

Panda, a leader of the party peasants’ wing, has already raised hackles against land acquisition, alleging that most of the land to be acquired is multi-crop and it would affect over 40,000 people.

“At the last Left Front meeting, industries minister Nirupam Sen had assured us that land map of every major project would be submitted to the allies before the government embarks on acquisition of land for them. He also said the allies can suggest minor changes to the area to be taken over. If the government has moved unilaterally in Nandigram despite the minister’s assurance, we think it’s a violation of the front’s decision and the government is responsible for today’s trouble,” CPI state secretary Manju Kumar Majumdar said.

However, the government is in the clear as the formal land acquisition process is yet to be launched at Nandigram.

With the CPM central committee meeting in progress in the city, the state leadership seemed to have been taken unawares by today’s developments.

“We have no information on whether the administration has begun issuing acquisition notices. We have adopted a policy in which the administration will work together with pro-industry political forces as it cannot alone convince people about the benefits of industrialisation when a violent force is opposed to land acquisition,” state secretariat member Benoy Konar said.

Earlier, CPM patriarch Jyoti Basu had cautioned against any hasty move by bureaucrats involved in land acquisition. The atmosphere should be made congenial for acquisition with the help of the CPM and its mass organisations, he said.

The Trinamul Congress-led Save Farmland Committee, which has been spearhe-ading protests over Singur, said Nandigram saw an outburst against the government’s move to “grab the land of poor farmers”.

“The government has not learnt anything from Singur. That is why it has initiated the process of grabbing agricultural land at Nandigram,” said MLA Partha Chatterjee.

From a nursing home, Mamata Banerjee has ordered her supporters to visit Nandigram tomorrow.