| It is because the state lacks a "focused, aggressive and clean-imaged" ambassador, according to Jairam Ramesh, an economist and Member of Parliament. |
| Ramesh, in the city to attend a meeting organised by West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC) on Saturday, said although the communist orthodoxy did permit dependence on an individual, an individual could play a pivotal role in today's market economics. |
| "West Bengal is a economic success story in the last decade. But why is it so that nobody wants to believe you?" Ramesh asked WBIDC chairman Somnath Chatterjee, who narrated statistics on the economic progress of the state immediately before Ramesh delivered his speech. |
| Ramesh felt that the real issue in the state was not "what was to do be done" but "who will do it". That could be overcome by appointing a brand ambassador. |
| He prescribed a four-point solution for the state government to turn around its image: appoint an aggressive brand ambassador, market a success story, implement an under-promise, over-delivery example, and be not complacent with what you are. |
| While deliberating on the points, he said there could be no better brand ambassador for West Bengal than its chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattarcharya." No one in our country is uncertain about Buddhababu's integrity and image. I am sure he can do with West Bengal what Chandrababu did with Tamil Nadu, S M Krishnan did with Karnataka, Digvijay Singh with Madhya Pradesh." |
| He said the prescription might help Kolkata to be Pudong, a Chinese city "that was worse than Kolkata 10 years ago and now was even better than New York." |
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