Biman Bose, chairman of the Left Front in West Bengal, was today appointed state secretary of the CPI(M). The post had fallen vacant after Anil Biswas' death on March 26. | |
| The state committee, which met here today, unanimously decided to appoint Bose as state secretary. He will also continue to function as Left Front chairman. |
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| Today's meeting was attended by CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and veteran Left leader Jyoti Basu. |
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| Announcing the decision, Bhattacharjee said the party was "badly missing Biswas". "We have to fill up the gap left by the loss of Biswas. We will now concentrate on collective functioning," he said. |
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| A bachelor residing in the party hostel at its headquarters in central Kolkata's Alimuddin Street, Bose's appointment was reportedly proposed and backed by Basu despite the fact that the two had for years an uneasy relationship. |
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| The posts of CPI(M) general secretary and Left Front chairman had been held by a single person till six years ago, when they were bifurcated to accommodate both Biswas and Bose. |
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| Securing the support of Left hard-liners and part of the party rank and file opposed to private or joint sector led growth in West Bengal is seen as the biggest challenge facing Bose and the Bhattacharjee government as the Left heads for Assembly polls, beginning next month. |
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| Bose, along with heavyweight CPI(M) reformers within the government like Industry Minister Nirupam Sen, was expected to play a crucial role in sustaining the state government's drive to attract private investment for economic growth. |
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| He would also have to match the formidable skills shown by Biswas in tackling dissidence within the CPI(M), identifying and expelling corrupt leaders who refused to reform and keeping the Left Front united despite the differing aspirations of minor constituents like the RSP and the Forward Bloc, which feel swamped by the CPI(M). |
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| One of the new generation of leaders chosen by Proamode Dasgupta, founder-chairman of the Left Front, in the 1980s, Bose along with Bhattacharjee and Biswas had formed the triumvirate that tackled the Left hard-liners and transformed the Left Front government into an investment-friendly, pro-growth one from a closed, restrictive and business-unfriendly regime under Basu. |
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| Bose had secured the support of the CPI(M) and the Left Front for the Bhattacharjee government at many critical junctures on controversial issues, the most recent being acquisition of agricultural and rural land for setting up of private sector industries like the proposed motorcycle factory and township of the Indonesian Salim group. |
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| Earlier, he had persuaded hard-core Left leaders to roll back the policy on exclusion of English from primary schools and permit its teaching from the primary level wherever possible. |
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