Last week, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee raised eyebrows when she visited an ailing Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee for the second time in six months, considered a short gap of time given the hostility between the CPI(M) and TMC. This was the third such meeting of the Banerjee and Bhattacharjee since the Communist chief minister demitted office in 2011.
Banerjee met Bhattacharjee (73) for the first time soon after she became chief minister. The second time was six months back when she rushed to Palm Avenue in Kolkata, where Bhattacharjee resides, after coming to know he had a serious illness.
But what may have prompted the West Bengal chief minister to visit last week amid mudslinging between the opposition and her party over violence ahead of panchayat elections in West Bengal and after Ram Navami communal riots?
Both sides maintained a stoic silence over the visit except that Banerjee said she had come and met 'Buddhababu' as last time she did not have tea from his wife.
The CPI(M) party sources have confirmed that the former Communist chief minister is bedridden.
“But his condition has not deteriorated since the chief minister visited him last time,” said a party central committee member.
“However, neither did I try to know what transpired between them nor I was informed about it,” he said.
Last month, Bhattacharjee came to the CPI(M) state committee meeting in Kolkata with an oxygen tube attached to his nostril. He quit from both the state secretariat and the state committee and remained as a special invitee in the state committee. Quite unusually, Bhattacharjee was seen being helped by two assistants into his white Ambassador car when he left the venue of the meeting.
He stays in a rented apartment owned by the state government in Palm Avenue. The small apartment is not owned by Bhattacharjee. Few months ago, Bhattacharjee's wife, Meera, called up the chief minister to complain that the flat was not being renovated by the Kolkata Corporation and her repeated prayers did not elicit action from Kolkata Mayor Sovan Chatterjee.
When informed by Meera, Banerjee reportedly hauled up the mayor and asked him to depute personnel to attend to issues at the apartment complex, which would be detrimental for an advanced-stage COPD patient like Bhattacharjee.
The chief minister then rushed to Bhattacharjee's residence last month and offered him a government guest house, which Bhattacharjee reportedly declined.
After being defeated in 2011, Bhattacharjee refused to accept security cover and asked his security men to leave. But after few months, the Central government, then led by Manmohan Singh, asked the state government to give him Z-plus category security. Prodded by both Central and state governments, Bhattacharjee accepted security but not the Z category as desired by the Central and state governments. He wanted minimum security, comprising of one or two personnel.
Last week, when Banerjee met Bhattacharjee for the third time, accompanied by Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajiv Kumar, once known to be very close to Bhattacharjee, when he was chief minister, the two leaders discussed books over a cup of tea. Banerjee said she had tea and discussed many books as Bhattacharjee was an avid reader and spends his most of the time reading books. His vision in both eyes has weakened and he also could not memorise many things.
Did she discuss politics with the respected Communist leader?
A source said, “Yes, there were few (discussions). But the former chief minister himself did not want to discuss that as the chief minister was his guest. Buddhada is like that only.”
Coming out of the residence, Meera looked grim and did not say anything. She just saw Banerjee off. After that, the current chief minister spoke a few words to mediapersons and then hopped into her car and drove away.
What remained unanswered was when Banerjee met Bhattacharjee soon after the communal riots in Bengal when criticism was pouring in against her from all sides, would they discuss books only?
“Never. She must have wanted to send some message to others through Buddhada. But Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee cannot be outmanoeuvred,” said a CPI(M) leader.