Calcutta, Oct. 7: A grim Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee today broke the news of “a disaster” to Jyoti Basu — Gujarat has bagged the Nano project.

The chief minister arrived at Indira Bhavan at 12.15 this afternoon and stayed for 20 minutes.

“They discussed at length the relocation of the Nano factory to Gujarat,” Joykrishna Ghosh, a close aide of Basu, told The Telegraph. “The chief minister told him that the government had done its best, but an irresponsible Opposition ensured that the Tatas left Bengal. The chief minister was dejected about the Nano’s move to Gujarat and he conveyed this to Jyoti Basu.”

Sources at Indira Bhavan said Basu told Bhattacharjee that he shared his sentiments. “There were also periods of long silences between the two leaders, which conveyed their mood after today’s developments,” the source said.

The chief minister went to the CPM’s Alimuddin Street office twice today, but cancelled plans to visit his friends in north Calcutta, a routine he strictly follows every Puja. Instead, he spent the rest of the day at home.

Mamata Banerjee soaked in the Puja spirit, pandal hopping in her Calcutta South Lok Sabha constituency — from Mudiali to Mad- dox Square.

“She doesn’t care about Ratan Tata’s decision to relocate the Nano project to Gujarat,” an aide said. “It is irrelevant for the Trinamul Congress where the Tatas want to relocate.”

He refused to comment when asked whether Mamata would write to Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi to congratulate him on bagging the Nano project, just the way she had done when he had swept to power in the last Assembly elections.

But a close aide quoted Mamata as saying: “You people may be wondering why I am not speaking much on Nano. I just want to see now whether the Gujarat government makes the agreement with the Tatas public. The CPM government didn’t do it. So, I am waiting to find out what Narendra Modi does.”