Bhattacharjee: ‘Bold step’

Calcutta, Sept. 26: Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee had tried more than once in the past 24 hours to turn the Forward Bloc around on the Metro licence, CPM sources said.

Both the chief minister and state CPM secretary Biman Bose, who had been urging Bloc leaders to consider the renewal of the licence to Metro, spoke to Bloc veteran Ashok Ghosh yesterday. Bhattacharjee also sent finance minister Asim Dasgupta to convince Ghosh. They called up Ghosh today before and after a meeting of the Bloc secretariat.

But Ghosh turned down their request and made public the party’s refusal to budge. “This provoked the chief minister to exercise his special powers,’’ a CPM leader said.

An agitated Ghosh accused the chief minister of highhandedness and wanted to know whether the CPM leadership supported his move.

Some CPM state secretariat members like Benoy Konar and Shyamal Chakraborty said they were not aware of the chief minister’s decision. “It was not discussed at the state secretariat today,’’ said Konar. Chakraborty, the Citu state president, was in Delhi and said he learnt about it from the media.

Although Bose was involved in the efforts to persuade Ghosh, Bloc leaders said the CPM state secretary told them he was not aware of the government’s decision.

“Bimanda spoke to us several times but never indicated what was coming. Later, he said he did not know about it,” a Bloc leader said. Bose was not available for comment.

A section of the CPM felt that Bhattacharjee wanted to send a signal to prospective investors that he was firmly in the saddle and industrialisation would not be shelved because of Singur.

Although Bose did not speak up, Konar said: “Ghosh is a respected leader. But he should explain why his party issued the licence to Metro some years ago and why it is refusing to renew it now. If they did not bother for any bilateral or Left Front meeting then, why are they insisting now?’’

Chakraborty said the party was not opposed to Metro’s entry into vegetable wholesale business. “We have opposed the entry of big players in foodgrain business. But we have no objection to Metro in vegetable business since it helps the growers and curbs waste. Second, if they restrict their business to bulk consumers and don’t sell below 20kg to each customer, it should not hurt retailers.’’

Chakraborty pointed out that the Metro licence was issued before the policy-churn within the CPM on the issue. “I can’t say what will happen if other big players want to enter the same market. But laws and rules change when the situation demands,’’ he added, hinting that the party had not yet resolved differences.

Some partners of the Left Front are still in shock, trying to make sense of the sledgehammer that was wielded not on Mamata but an ally.

“We don’t recall such use of chief ministerial discretionary power during the Left Front rule. This was done last by the Congress government of S.S. Ray,’’ said Naren Chatterjee, the chairman of the Bloc-controlled state marketing board.

Other partners questioned the “timing”, fearing the licence directive would reopen fissures within the front at a time the allies had rallied behind the CPM on Singur.