Riding high on her party’s impressive performance in the recent Assembly bypolls in West Bengal, Trinamool Congress chief and Union Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday reiterated her demand for imposing the President’s rule in the state, citing lack of governance and rising atrocities on the people.

Asserting that over 300 political party workers, including 150 from her own party, had been killed since the Lok Sabha polls, Banerjee said there was “no governance” in the state. “We want imposition of Article 356 against atrocities,” she said, adding that the Centre could not keep mum on the rising atrocities against Muslims, SCs, STs and women.

On a day when a team from Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd visited a site in Singur to explore possibilities of setting up a power plant, Banerjee once again came out all guns blazing, saying no project would be allowed in Singur unless the 400 acres of land was returned to the farmers. Stressing that she was not “anti-industry” or “anti-development”, she said her stand was unchanged. “Return the extra land to farmers and set up the plant at 600 acres only,” she said, adding that even her ministry could set up a factory in Singur without deviating from this stance.

At an informal gathering on Wednesday night, Banerjee said the agitation she had led in Singur, particularly the hunger strike, had seen many former Naxalites come forward and join the democratic process. “Many former Naxalites came forward and supported us. Many of them campaigned for us and are now working for the Trinamool Congress. The fact that they have shunned violence and returned to the democratic process is a positive sign,” she said, clarifying that there was a difference between “Naxalites” and “Maoists”.