Bengal chief minister sings reforms tune in Singapore

Chief minister, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has turned a corporate chieftain with his latest initiative of taking the Bengal roadshows to Singapore and Indonesia, in a bid to woo foreign direct investment (FDI) "" the forbidden word in the Left Front dictionary.

Bhattacharjee's unabashed pitch to investors and his speeches at the different public fora for 100 per cent FDI in ports and airports have exposed the dichotomy in the Left Front policy at the Centre and statelevels.

The reformist in Bhattacharjee openly called for 100 per cent privatisation in the building of new ports and airports in India, a stance diammetrically opposite to his party, which has been opposing this at the Centre. The Left trade unions have also opposed it.

Replying to a query at the Institute of South Asian Studies and the Singapore-Indian Chamber of Comemrce & Industry, on whether the Left Front in India would agree to a 50 per cent foreign investment in building and modernising airports, he said, private companies were welcome to take 100 per cent equity in such projects.

His speeches and remarks were dotted with words in favour of globalisation, reforms and the policies adopted by Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh.

"Reform or perish" was the underlying message that he had for the state of West Bengal and it appeared for his colleagues, back home. Like a CEO, Bhattacharjee had done his homework before his scheduled meetings. For his meeting with representatives of the $20 billion Salim Group of Industries, Bhattacharjee carried with him a proposal of what the state had to offer.

The chief minister presented them a map of the exact location of the group's proposed industrial economic zone. Four areas in South 24 Parganas "" Baruipur, Canning, Sonarpur and Mograghat "" had been identified for the project.

Meetings were scheduled for today with the Salim group chairman, Anthony Salim in Jakarta today. The reverberations of the Bengal roadshow were felt in India with the Prime Minister making haste to cash in on the reformer in the Left Front party.

"Every chief minister should learn from Buddhadeb's role model" Singh told the Parliament. Finally after all the accolades and a successful trip for Bengal, what remains to be seen is whether Bhattacharjee becomes a loner in the party or will the hardliners soften their stand.

A still third alternative, whether Bengal would be treated as an isolated case in point, as far as the Left Front's policy was concerned.