By any other name...

Politburo member of the CPI (M) Sitaram Yechury can be depended on for a one-liner to wriggle out of tricky situations. On Wednesday, he was asked who would be leader of Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, on the assumption that the Left Front would be defeated in the elections. “PWD minister Gautam Deb or Chief Minister Buddhadeb Chattacharjee?” asked a reporter. It was a provocative question because Deb is backed by a large section of the party as the next leader of the Left, replacing the bhadralok chief minister. A poker-faced Yechury quipped, “India is the land of Gautam Buddha. You may call him Gautam or Buddha, it depends on you. For us, it’s not a big issue,” before claiming that the situation won’t arise because the Left Front will win.