Buddha's smile and the Bengal polls

When a reporter asked about the decline of industries, Bhattacharya asked him to brush up his facts. The tea industry was fine, though nine tea estates were shut at the moment, he said. The same was with jute - about five shut out of 59.

The engineering sector was a problem, but now, with the opening of ISCO, AESOP and Dunlop, things were looking up, he added.

In an out-of-quotation-marks conversation, a CPI-M state committee member said that when Ganashakti, the CPI-M's daily mouthpiece, published a Bhattacharya quote, the chief minister hauled them up for an error. The quote was: 'We have turned around in industry.'Bhattacharya insisted, the CPI-M member claimed, that he had said 'We are turning around in industry.'

Whether true or not, it is this image of an honest leader that the CPI-M is riding piggyback on. And, if the opinion polls here are any indication, they are succeeding.

Even his detractors admit Bhattacharya is Mr Clean. What they allege is a complete destruction of the democratic process in the grassroots by the Left Front.

If Bhattacharya can conquer that hurdle, he will have set the base for an even stronger CPI-M government in West Bengal.