In what could be a damage control exercise, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya sought to scotch speculations that the Left Front was hijacking the economic reforms process through the UPA government’s Common Minimum Programme, with a ‘‘don’t-take-us-for-fools’’ repartee.After a meeting with PM Manmohan Singh, Bhattacharya cited Bengal’s ‘‘success story’’ in land, economic reforms and IT sector to counter allegations of the Left being bent on reversing the course of reforms.Bhattacharya was particular to point out: ‘‘Communists are not fools. They are not against reforms.’’ But it came with the corollary: ‘‘We fully support what the PM has said about reforms with a human face.’’ The emphasis could not be missed. Citing the FDI flow into West Bengal, he said, companies like Mitsubishi and Marubeni have set up shop in the state and IBM has major plans for the state.Expressing concern over the Sensex crash, he said: ‘‘We are worried and will certainly discuss it.’’ He also sounded positive about the implementation of VAT.
