It was not Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, but Somnath Chatterjee, whom a section of CPI(M) wanted as the replacement for Jyoti Basu as the chief minister in West Bengal. In fact, Basu also once asked Chatterjee to think of it. It was for this that Somnath Chatterjee was brought to Kolkata as chairman of the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC) Ltd.
But Chatterjee refused the chief ministerial post and pitched it for Bhattacharjee. Chatterjee convinced Basu to stay on for some more years, until Bhattacharjee was able to get a grip over the West Bengal government. Chatterjee also went a step ahead and led a huge rally in favour of Basu's prime ministership that ultimately was defeated in the Central committee.
"I did not like to come to the state (West Bengal). I would not deny there was no proposal, but I wanted to serve the party from where I thought I would do it best," Somnath Chatterjee told THE WEEK in an earlier interview.
But despite leading the party in Parliament for a long period and being part of the group of masterminds that worked tirelessly with socialists to form an anti-BJP front at the national level, he was never picked up to the politburo of the CPI(M).
In fact, a source said that Chatterjee never wanted to come in the way of Bhattacharjee, who was promoted as Basu's replacement by CPI(M) leaders in Delhi. Chatterjee used to love Bhattacharjee a lot and called him 'Buddha'.
His term as the chief of WBIDC saw many industrialists coming to Kolkata and signing many Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs). His political opponents often called him "MoU dada" for the same reason. However, none of the MoUs got translated into investments as land was an issue in Bengal.
Finally, he advised Bhattacharjee to make a land policy that would be proactive to Bengal's industrialisation. Till his last day, Chatterjee remained a strong proponent of Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee's land acquisition policy that earned him criticisms even from within the CPI(M).
At the same time, Bhattacharjee used to take guidance from Chatterjee on various issues, including governance and legal matters. Bhattacharjee and Prakash Karat were eyeball to eyeball when Chatterjee was expelled from the party.
"Buddhada, before and after the politburo meeting, argued with the central leaders about how the decision to sack Somnathda was against ethics and principles of communist philosophy and the Bengal party as a whole," said a senior source in the CPI(M).
Several attempts made by Bhattacharjee did not melt the ice. He also tried hard to make Chatterjee's return to the CPI(M) possible. That could have been made possible only with an apology from Chatterjee. But Chatterjee refused to deplore his own decision finally closing the door forever.