Berhampore, April 30: In West Bengal, the world’s longest-serving democratically elected Communist government has relied on peasants to win power time and time again since 1977.
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Now Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, state Chief Minister, says his party is going to win the latest election with new supporters: urban voters and businessmen who for years shunned the communists believing they were anti-business and focused on rural areas.
Through a pro-business platform that aims to propel the eastern state into a regional business centre, analysts credit Bhattacharjee for turning around West Bengal’s fortunes while at the same time broadening the appeal of his Communist party.
"Without capitalism, you cannot bring socialism in a feudal society," Bhattacharjee, a grey-haired man, said in Berhampore town, 210 km north of Kolkata, where he was campaigning to help the left notch up its seventh straight electoral victory in 29 years.
Source: http://www.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=66939
