Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee couldn't have started his second innings on a better note.
On his very first day in office, he had Ratan Tata announcing his decision to manufacture a people's car in this Communist-ruled state and minutes after Tata left, Videocon chairman Venugopal Dhoot turned up to unveil his plan to invest Rs 900 crore in Kolkata.
Bengal has established itself as one of the most investor-friendly states in the country.
Investors are coming but what Bhattacharjee needs most at this juncture is a world-class airport in Kolkata.
He is now scouting for investors but the CPI-M's decision to oppose privatisation of airports has put a spanner in his works.
Left to him, Bhattacharjee would have loved to let a private player take over the Dum Dum airport and turn it into a Changi in quick time, but his party colleagues are not allowing this.
However, it is not as if the CPI-M Politburo does not appreciate Kolkata's need to have a bigger, better airport to woo investors from abroad.
The party's top brass has been considerate enough to leave a window open allowing Bhattacharjee to explore what he had earlier proposed a new airport in Kolkata built in public-private partnership.
"If there's a greenfield airport or a new airport being constructed anywhere, the question on whether private sector partnership is required or not and to what degree can be discussed specifically on merit," says CPI-M General Secretary, Prakash Karat.
Unless allowed to partner a private player, the Airport Authority of India might take ages to modernize the Kolkata airport.
To that extent, the CPI-M's decision to oppose privatisation of airports is a setback for the state.
For Bhattacharjee, who has yet not shown any signs of giving in to pressures from within his party, the challenge now is to obtain approval for a public-private partnership to build a new airport in this city.
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