Gearing for big Bengal battle,Mamata does image makeover

Draped in a coarse cotton sari with humble rubber slippers in her feet and a cloth bag hanging from her shoulders,Trinamool Congress chief...

Draped in a coarse cotton sari with humble rubber slippers in her feet and a cloth bag hanging from her shoulders,Trinamool Congress chief and Union Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee appears more Left than even the Left leaders. But did you know that between the books,papers and medicines what makes her bag appear a little weighty? It is a small laptop computer. This is the new-age Mamata Banerjee,preparing to dismantle the Left in West Bengal.

The laptop computer is almost her constant companion. But if you thought that this grassroots leader has turned tech-savvy to discharge her duties as a Union minister speedily,then here is another surprise: The computer is mostly used to listen to Rabindrasangeet.

For long,the contents of Mamatas bag,which she always carries,had been a mystery for even party leaders. Last Thursday the fiery leader herself revealed that she carries a small computer in the bag. Oh! I forgot to bring my machine today, remarked a restless Mamata. It took everyone by surprise and when someone inadvertently whispered,Machine! Mamata revealed that she was talking about her computer. I carry a small computer in my bag, she declared. To this one party leader almost spilled the beans and said: She listens to songs on it. Unmindful,Mamata claimed that she was tech-savvy and adept at handling the gizmo. I am tech- savvy. I know everything about the computer. she declared.

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From earning the title of agnikanya (fire-woman) after her theatrics like wrapping her black shawl around her neck to make a noose in a bid to commit suicide at a public rally in Kolkata,holding MPs by their collar and flinging papers at the Speakers podium to name a few Mamata has come a long way.

Her close associates have it that she has transformed into a more mature and levelheaded politician when compared to her earlier avatar and matching up to the intellectual machinations of the Communists. They feel that trying her hand at painting and listening to songs could have played a role in tempering her. She is now the lovable didiof Bengal,they claim.

The change was visible in the way she handled the case of singer-MP Kabir Suman and the crisis after the Congress courted the Left post-Siliguri civic polls. Had she been in her earlier self,you could have seen her burst out and even snap ties with the Congress. But she behaved like a seasoned politician, said a TMC MP.

Not that the leader has completely shed her firebrand image. After the Siliguri event she had stopped talking to Congress stalwart from Bengal,Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee. However,she did not drag it for long. On Friday,she held a meeting with Mukherjee and Law Minister Veerappa Moily regarding some appointments in the Calcutta High Court.

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Mamata (54) also takes care to remain fit and exercises for around an hour everyday,besides maintaining a strict diet. I spend around one hour everyday on the treadmill. Earlier I used to do more but after the fasting in Singur,doctors advised me to reduce it, she said. When the House is on she is seen sticking to just sandwiches and soups.

She is also moving in a very calculated way to take over Bengal. Recently,she organised a dinner for West Bengal cadre IAS officers in Delhi.