Special Protection Unit personnel, in their blazers and trousers, push chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s car in an attempt to make it start on Friday. The nip in the air stalled the vehicle’s battery, and getting it to restart involved quite a bit of heave-ho. Picture by Kishor Roy Chowdhury

The chief minister was left without a ride outside the Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Friday.

The bullet-proof white Ambassador refused to start as Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee was about to leave the chamber after its annual general meeting. Officials of the Special Protection Unit (SPU), which oversees his security, had to push the car for 10 minutes before the engine sputtered to life. Bhattacharjee spent the time inside the chamber office.

A test of the car revealed that the battery had stalled because of the low temperature.

This is the second time this year that the elements have taken a toll on Bhattacharjee’s car. The Ambassador had broken down on flooded Alimuddin Street on June 13. The chief minister has been using the car, which costs about Rs 12 lakh, for four years.

“The meeting ended around 1.50pm. The chief minister then took a short tea break with members of the chamber,” said an official of the chief minister’s security team.

The securitymen had taken their positions in the six-car convoy and were waiting for Bhattacharjee to come out of the chamber when his driver Osman got out of the Ambassador after failing to start it in three attempts.

“Osman opened the bonnet and took a look but could not find anything wrong,” said an officer of Hare Street police station, who was present there. To avoid a security risk, the policemen entered the chamber office and requested Bhattacharjee to wait for a few minutes.

Osman asked the SPU personnel, in their blazers and trousers, to push the car. “The car, being bullet-proof, is heavier than other cars. The officials could barely make it move fast enough for Osman to start the engine,” said another police officer.

Osman then decided to use the reverse gear and asked the SPU men to push the car backwards. This, too, did not work. By the time the vehicle started 10 minutes later, the security men had broken into a sweat.

“I saw a white Ambassador being pushed by securitymen in front of the chamber office and thought that it was the chief minister’s pilot car. When I heard that the chief minister’s car had broken down, all I could think of was that they better fix it fast,” said Rita Bhimani, who attended the meeting.

The convoy does not have a second bullet-proof car. “A spare bullet-proof car accompanies the chief minister only when he goes out of the city. From now on, we will think of taking the reserve car always,” said a senior police officer.

“We have bought a new pair of bullet-proof cars from Hyderabad a couple of months ago. If necessary, we will use the new cars from tomorrow,” added the officer.

Chamber officials pleaded ignorance. “We are not aware of the chief minister’s car breaking down. As far as we know, everything went according to schedule,” said S. Radhakrishnan, the president of the chamber.