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Politburo’s NO to Kolkata airport privatization |
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A two-day meeting of the CPI(M) politburo which ended in Kolkata on May 28, has shot down West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s reported intent of immediate moderniza¬tion of Kolkata airport with private participation. The polit¬buro said that the party would accept nothing short of the Air¬ports Authority of India being handed over the task.
The hawks led by Left Front chairman Biman Bose reminded Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee - the party’s neo-reform face - that they would revive the Left Front’s tradition of struggle. Buddha on his part, tried to strike a compromise with the hardliners saying “he had never expressed his desire to privatise Kolkata airport.”
In the victory rally too, he assured that the acquisition of agricultural land for industry would never ruin state’s food security. It is a climb down and a blow of sorts to Bhattachar¬jee, who was keen on upgrading the existing airport in Kolkata and developing a new Greenfield project. After the politburo meeting, CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat said the Chief Minister did not write to Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel to modernise Kolkata airport on the lines of Delhi and Mumbai as reported n a section of the media.
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