Chatterjee, who is the Leader of the Opposition in the assembly, was closeted with the Governor for about an hour at the Raj Bhavan. He, however, refused to divulge to the media what transpired at the discussion.

It could not be ascertained if he delivered any communication from Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee to the Governor who wrote to her last Saturday, advising her to withdraw the dharna and hold talks with the state government to solve the issue.

The Governor in his letter had said "a person with no political or industrial affiliation be invited to act as an unbiased intermediator in the matter. He or she can go into the demand articulated by you and give carefully thought-out findings for the earnest consideration of all sides.

''If this thought was acceptable to you, please suggest a name or names. I would request the state government to respond positively,'' he had said.

eanwhile, normal work at the upcoming small car plant of the Tata Motors at Singur was stalled for the fourth day as the indefinite dharna by TC demanding return of 400 acres to 'unwilling famrmers' entered the ninth day.

One lane of an expressway linking Kolkata with Delhi, which was blocked due to the dharna, was opened for two hours between 9:00 am and 11:00 am this morning for facilitating movement of stranded trucks.

Some vehicles were also moving along the stretch of the expressway blocked since August 24 due to the indefinite dharna.

About 4,000 trucks carrying perishable and essential commodities were stranded on the expressway for the last nine days, unable to reach Kolkata.

The 76-km expressway is a part of NH-2 connecting Delhi with Kolkata.

The West Bengal government has said it would not like to use force to lift the blockade on the expressway and favoured resolving the problem through discussions as the authorities of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) visited the blocked stretch and discussed the situation with the Hooghly district administration.

Agitators continued to block the main entry points of the Tata car factory.

A Tata Motors spokesperson said in Kolkata "conditions are still not conducive here for resuming our work. We continue to assess the situation closely."

Braving occasional rains, hundreds gathered near the main dharna dais as the TC chief was scheduled to address a rally of small retailers to demand that big industrial houses not enter the retail sector.

Meanwhile, film actor Aparna Sen, theatre personality Saonli Mitra and Kishwar Jahan, mother of computer graphics teacher Rizwanur Rehman, who died a mysterious death after his marriage to the daughter of a wealthy Hindu industrialist, joined Banerjee at the dharna.