More Mamata blues

But that’s hardly a deterrent. Yet again, the Mayor is sharing the platform with Union Water Resources Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi at the golden jubilee celebrations of the Chhatra Parishad. An indication of the shape of politics to come in the municipal elections slated for early next year.

Buddha’s doosra to Dalmiya

While the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) continues to be bogged down in court battles, former BCCI chief Jagmohan Dalmiya’s other empire — the Calcutta Leather Complex — is also in turmoil. In cricketing terms, one can call it a ‘‘doosra’’ delivered by Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, bowling Dalmiya out of the Calcutta Leather Complex.

At a State Cabinet core committee meeting last week, Bhattacharya expressed displeasure over the delay in completion of the leather complex project (eight years have passed since the project’s inception) and also at the dispute that has gripped tannery owners and Dalmiya’s ML Dalmiya & Co over future maintenance of the sprawling 1,100-acre project. The government finally decided to hand over the responsibility of maintenance, and supply of water and electricity to a committee to be formed by the tannery owners and not to ML Dalmiya & Co.

Leather units coming from outside the state here will now negotiate with the new committee and the state government, instead of ML Dalmiya & Co as was envisaged earlier. Nirupam Sen, the state’s soft-spoken Minister for Commerce and Industries, facing queries from the media, gave a sugar coating to the development: ‘‘We don’t want to term it as snapping of the contract. It sends a negative signal to the business community.’’

Then what was it? Did anyone miss the positive signal the Chief Minister wanted to convey?

Bidi company to rescue of flood-hit

Pataka Bidi company, known for being one of the highest income-tax payers in the east (more than even cigarette major ITC), set an example last week by sending volunteers to flood-affected areas of Murshidabad district like Suti, Kandi, Barowah and parts of Jangipur, Pranab Mukherjee’s constituency. The floods caused by last week’s incessant rain and release of water from dams in the area bordering Jharkhand have submerged more than 75 villages. At least 18 people have died and another 25,000 people marooned. According to officials, the state’s total damage to vegetable and winter crops was estimated at Rs 380 crore, with Murshidabad alone losing around Rs 100 crore.

Pataka’s drive for help came at a time when the state headquarters received reports that relief sent by the government had not reached the flood-affected in time. The delay forced the Chief Minister to issue a warning that it was not enough to despatch relief, and one had to ensure the material reached the affected families within 24 hours.

Mascot of every proxy battle

When it comes to blasting the Centre or ‘‘imperialist’’ USA, the Marxists in Bengal still rely more on the grand old patriarch of the party, Jyoti Basu, than on Buddhadeb Bhattacharya. When the EC got tough during the last polls, Basu got tougher asking it to pay more attention elsewhere, not Bengal. More recently, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, the ‘‘World Bank man’’ was targeted by Basu. He was heard again last week asking the Americans to keep off the northeastern states. ‘‘We all know about ‘Operation Brahmaputra’ — the American blueprint for inciting secessionist activities in the North-East in the post-Independence days,’’ Basu thundered. Comrades within the party say Basu utters things that Buddha finds hard to do being the CM. It’s a well-devised party strategy, they admit.