Buddha tones down the bark, rules out bite

Barely a day after his colleagues in New Delhi ratcheted up their criticism of the UPA Government, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhat...

Barely a day after his colleagues in New Delhi ratcheted up their criticism of the UPA Government, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee told a CII gathering here today that his party, the CPM, wasn8217;t going to bring down the government and would even reconcile with its economic policies.

And if his party8217;s central leadership was sounding so strident on certain issues, he said, it wouldn8217;t do anything drastic like withdrawing support. 8216;8216;Maximum, we shall agree to disagree,8217;8217; Bhattacharjee said.

Back in the capital to address a CII symposium, his second in less than two months, Bhattacharjee enthralled the audience of entrepreneurs with plainspeaking that has now become his hallmark style, especially on economics.

8216;8216;We have even got McKinsey to study the possibilities of industrially exploiting the agriculture sector,8217;8217; he said, with hardly a blink, at a time when foreign consultants are in bad odour in New Delhi.

It was during the question-answer session which CII I 8216;Maximum, we agree to disagree,8217; says Bengal CM, repeats: we ma which followed that an entrepreneur, struck by Bhattacharjee8217;s openness, wondered why his views could not be the national 8216;8216;mantra.8217;8217; Bhattacharjee grabbed the microphone and said: 8216;8216;I know what you are going to ask. Why this apparent divergence of views between the Centre and at the state level? I suggest you don8217;t take it too seriously. The Left has certain policies as in public sectors. We do not want to sell off the PSUs which have been built with people8217;s money. Well, we shall continue to support the government. Maximum, we shall agree to disagree.8217;8217;

Earlier, Bhattacharjee did the West Bengal hardsell. simply unstoppable when it came to selling West Bengal as the best industrial destination in the capital. And once again, like the last time, he ended his speech underlining that he wasn8217;t going to compromise his economics for the sake of politics. 8216;8216;I have come here to ensure the advancement of West Bengal. We have made serious policy mistakes in the past with regard to private capital, with regard to the trade union movement. We are taking corrective measures. We sincerely request you to come and invest in the state.8217;8217;

The CII had allotted only 10 minutes to Bhattacharjee. Bhattacharjee first tried to sell his languishing jute industry saying that someone willing to look at jute in an innovative way and with an understanding of the eco-friendly market in Europe could invest in this sunset sector.

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Besides tea and jute, Bhattacharjee said that engineering industry in the state, another neglected sector, needed funds to come alive once again. He said new areas where he wanted money to be injected included iron and steel. He told the keenly interested audience that he was already getting contracts from China which needed massive construction material for the Olympic stadia it8217;s building now in Beijing.

Bhattacharjee also sold relatively new sectors like petrochemicals and plastics, agro-based industries and information technology. He wanted entrepreneurs to consider investing in automobile, textile and leather industries in West Bengal.