Former Bengal CM hits out at Trinamool Congress over Infosys project

Former West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya hit out at Trinamool Congress-led government in the state, saying it has failed to attract new investments, while forcing Infosys to rethink its Kolkata project.

Infosys had purchased 50 acres of land for the project in Rajarhat, on the northeastern fringes of the city, for Rs 1.5 crore per acre for the project. The company also had made the payment in full in October last year.

"The new state government has failed to bring in any new investments in the state in last 14 months. Rather than attracting investments, the investors who had invested during our tenure are going away," said Bhattacharya.

Bhattacharya, who is also a politburo member of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), accused the state government of not creating proper atmosphere for investments.

Earlier in 2012, Infosys wrote to the Trinamool government seeking clarification on its SEZ status, but the status was refused by Banerjee, who said her party's manifesto was against SEZs.

Despite a series of discussions, the issue remains unresolved, making the project's future uncertain.

"Why are the investors going away? Why is Infosys planning to go away from the state? We had worked so hard in convincing Infosys to invest in the state. In IT sector, there have been no investments in last one year," he said.

During his tenure as chief minister, Bhattacharya was instrumental in convincing IT majors like Wipro and Infosys to invest in the state.

Bhattacharya criticised the state government's industrial policy as "directionless".

"We had done the Salboni steel plant in West Midnapore. Now nobody knows what will happen to that. The policy of this government is totally directionless, which in future will push the state towards darkness,"

Bhattacharya took pot shots at the state government by saying that the government is only interested in spending money in festivals.

"A government cannot run this way. Wherever you see, you will see only festivals and functions. Are they (Trinamool) running a government or a local club," he quipped.

With inputs from IANS