Industry cheers as Buddha assumes office

Bhattacharya will head a Cabinet where the key portfolios remain unchanged except in information technology.

Debesh Das, the MLA from Taltala in Kolkata, replaced Manab Mukherjee as IT minister. Nirupam Sen retained the industry portfolio as well as the status of number two in the ministry by taking oath just after the CM.

Asim Dasgupta also retained his portfolio of finance, but with a reduced status as he took oath after Gautam Deb at number four.

Big names like Azim Premji, Narayana Murthy or the Ambani Brothers were not present in the ceremony, but the industrialists from the state were all present along with Videocon chairman V Dhoot.

Local industry heads and Dhoot praised Bhattacharjee. Dhoot called Buddhadeb as the most dynamic CM in India. "Things are moving very fast in the state. I am really optimistic about the prospect in the state," he said.

Pawan Ruia, who came to fame with the acquisition of Jessop and Dunlop, said the CM was among the very few who had a real good vision about the future. "We are pinning our hopes on him," he said.

RPG Enterprises chairman R P Goenka said he felt the industry scenario in the state was first changing and for the good.

ITC chairman Y C Deveswar, State Bank of India chairman A K Purwar, Haldia Petrochem managing director Swapan Bhowmik, Peerless Housing managing director K S Bagchi and Bengal Ambuja chairman Harsh Neotia were among those who attended the ceremony.

Besides industrialists, the ceremony was attended by former Indian cricket captain Sourav Ganguly, Hindu Group editor N Ram, film director Mrinal Sen and artist Shuvaprassanna.

Left political heavyweights like Prakash Karat, Sitaram Yechuri, Brida Karat, Jyoti Basu and Somnath Chatterjee were also present at the ceremony of the seventh Left Front government along with Front chairman Biman Bose.