From correspondents in West Bengal, India, 02:31 PM IST

Putting up a brave front after Tata Motors' decision to pull out the Nano project from his state, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee Sunday said the state might have lost one battle, but not the war.

'We have lost one battle, but the war is not lost,' Bhattacharjee said in his first public comment after Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata Friday announced the withdrawal of the project that has thrown into uncertainty the state's future on the industrial front.

Bhattacharjee, however, conceded that the automobile major's decision had sent a 'serious message' about the state across the country.

'The fact that Tata has pulled out, has sent a serious message all over India,' he said while speaking at the foundation stone laying ceremony of the Orion Techcity here.

Referring to the Trinamool Congress-led opposition, which had launched a sustained and often-violent agitation that forced Tata Motors to wind up its plant in Singur, the chief minister said it was their failing to understand the importance of industrialisation.

'I don't know why the opposition is failing to understand the importance of industrialisation in India,' he added.

Bhattacharjee reiterated that though West Bengal was the best in the country in agriculture, 'we can't ignore industrialisation'.

(Staff Writer, © IANS)