This is seen as a fallout of the ignominy of his defeat at the hands of the former state chief secretary and unprecedented drubbing of so many of his cabinet colleagues in the just-concluded Assembly elections
And, that he means what he is `saying' is quite evident from the fact that Bhattacherjee has doggedly refused all requests of his colleagues here and in New Delhi to go and attend the Politburo meeting starting in the capital from Monday.
“He wanted to step down owning full responsibility for the debacle of the Left Front," a source said.
A very sensitive man that he is, Bhattacherjee could have never thought that the rout under his stewardship would be so devastating, leave alone his shocking defeat in the Marxist citadel of Jadavpur. After the reverses in 2009 Lok Sabha elections, he personally took upon himself the onus of leading the charge against rival Trinamool Congress in the Assembly polls. But unfortunately, the rout was even more severe this time as a result of which he refused to take the official bullet-proof car from Saturday and began using a simple car provided to him by the party and so far, remained incommunicado.
However, there have been efforts from the party mandarins here to `steer him out of the crisis'. "There is need for Bhattacharjee's presence in Kolkata. He has been asked to stay back in view of post-poll violence in different parts of the state. Our party workers are being attacked and incidents of looting and arson are taking place," CPM state secretary Biman Bose told reporters here. Bose also denied reports that Bhattacharjee had decided to resign from the Politburo. “There is no basis for such reports.”
Bose and outgoing industry minister Nirupam Sen have left for Delhi to attend the Politburo meeting.
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