Kolkata, January 17: West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, who succeeded Jyoti Basu in 2000, today said the Marxist patriarch had given him confidence when he was hesitant to take over from him.
“He (Basu) decided to hand over the charge of chief ministership to me in 2000, but I was a bit hesitant because I thought it was a big gap. He was a tall leader and I was a small fry. But he gave me full confidence,” Bhattacharjee said while condoling 95-year-old Basu’s death.
“He was an able administrator and could take the right decision at the right time – be it law and order situation or a communal problem, the chief minister said, adding, “I tried to learn from him.”
“He is the architect of the industrial policy which I am pursuing now… I had gone to him to seek his advice on many matters.
–Agencies