From correspondents in West Bengal, India, 09:32 PM IST

As the politicians and bureaucrats Friday engaged in polemic inside the Raj Bhavan here over the fate of the Tata Nano project, a main protagonist Mamata Banerjee wielded the paint brush in Singur to keep herself busy.

The road outside the palatial building in the heart of the city was choc-a-bloc with onlookers as representatives of the state government and the main opposition Trinamool Congress discussed inside a resolution to the 24-month-old imbroglio.

Many of the onlookers had come either on various errands or to their place of work at the city hub B.B.D. Bag where stands the imposing Raj Bhavan, the residence of the Governor Generals and Viceroys of British India when Kolkata was the national capital till 1912.

Some others seemed genuinely anxious about the small car factory.

'We cannot afford to miss the bus. Industrialisation is the only solution for the development of the state,' said middle-aged businessman Kalyan Mitra.

Rathin Roy, a central government employee, was more sympathetic to the landowners of Singur.

'You just can't ask anyone to leave his or her land overnight. Though industrialisation is important, there has to be a process,' said Roy, who spent an hour near the Raj Bhavan on way home from office.

'We cannot ignore the interest of the common people. The government has to come up with a proper rehabilitation plan before welcoming such big investment in the state,' he said, before melting into the large evening crowd.

It was a long and hard day for journalists on duty at the Raj Bhavan, where the meeting originally scheduled to begin in the morning, finally got going at 4 p.m.

Made to wait outside the Raj Bhavan, the scribes had to endure the high vehicular pollution besides being constantly heckled by the police.

On top of that, there were endless streams of questions from the common people gathered there. 'Who all have gone inside?' 'Is Ratan Tata there?' 'What is the latest'? are a few samples of the queries hurled at the members of the fourth estate time and again.

Normally accustomed to throwing endless posers before the high and mighty, some journos seemed uncomfortable being on the other side for once.

And 40 km away, at Singur, one of the main protagonists busied herself with a paint brush.

Mamata Banerjee, president of the Trinamool Congress, whose agitation near the Tata plant forced Tata Motors to suspend operations and brought the warring parties to the discussion table, seemed relaxed as she spent more than an hour painting on a canvas.

Banerjee, who came to the makeshift podium on Durgapur Expressway around noon, also took part in celebrating teachers' day on the dais.

(Staff Writer, © IANS)