FOR the last six months, politics in West Bengal has revolved around a central theme: the demolition of its chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee. And the blows have come not just from his political adversary Mamata Banerjee but also from his own party comrades, cabinet colleagues and the men

he trusted.

Each day, Bhattacharjee witnesses the edifice of a three-decade-old regime crumbling, collapsing. His pet projects continue to suffer. It started with Tata pulling out from Singur last year, followed by the exit of DLF. The door was shut on Indonesia’s Salim Group next. Then the Jindals (JSW), facing a global slowdown, put their project in Bengal on hold. Meanwhile, the Maoists declared they wouldn’t let the Jindal project take off anyway. And finally, the Vedic Village controversy broke out and following allegations of land fraud and forced land acquisition in Vedic Village, the West Bengal government scrapped its proposed IT Park at Rajarhat.

For a man who hoped to take West Bengal out of a morass of depression and redefine communism in Bengal, the events have been devastating, pushing him deeper into his isolation. There have been rumours of him stepping down from office, though they haven’t amounted to much and people close to him say he may be disillusioned with the chief minister’s office but he remains committed to the party. His message, they say, is clear: “I am ready to quit the CM’s office, but I have my commitment to the party.”

So, when he retreated into solitude to the foothills of the Himalayas this week, at a forest bungalow in Mong Pong, near Siliguri, not many were surprised. Bhattacharjee’s close confidants say he hasn’t been keeping well and needed rest. “The party advised him to go to Kashmir but he chose North Bengal instead,” says CPI(M) central committee member Md Salim. “Soon, we have the Siliguri municipal corporation elections. Buddhada wanted to campaign for it too while resting at Mong Pong.”

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