Buddha meets Sonia, warns Dasmunsi

NEW DELHI: For the first time after the March 14 bloodbath in Nandigram, West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, who was here to attend the CPI(M) politburo and central committee meeting, appeared relieved indicating that the party has stood by him.

On the sidelines of the central committee meeting, the Bengal chief minister looked relaxed and even recited a Bengali poem by Rabindra Nath Tagore after inaugurating the West Bengal Cultural Centre adjacent to the CPI(M) headquarters.

Buddha, accompanied by politburo member Sitaram Yechury, called on UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi.

Party sources revealed that the chief minister requested the Congress president to restrain certain Congress leaders, especially parliamentary affairs minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi, from taking a “partisan” view of the Nandigram violence and hobnobbing with the Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee.

Buddha also requested Sonia to expedite comprehensive policy on SEZs. Both Buddha and Yechury expressed concern over the “motivated” campaign by the opposition parties against industrialisation in West Bengal.