CM-aspirant Mamata working on Bengal turnaround

NEW DELHI: "Amra, tomra noy, amader Bangla," (Not our's or their's but everyone's Bengal), is going to be the Trinamool Congress's campaign slogan for the upcoming West Bengal polls. The evocative punchline is TMC's counter to hit out at West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee's reference to the ruling side (our's) and the Opposition (their's) that had made headlines during the post-Singur, Nandigram political polarisation in the state.

With the possibility of a change of regime emerging in the state after 35 years of Left Front rule, TMC chief Mamata Banerjee has plans for a two-tier legislature in the state. She wants to form a Vidhan Parishad, or an Upper House, alongside the directly elected Vidhan Sabha, which is in place.

While TMC will include a proper plan for industrialisation in the state in the party's poll manifesto, an advisory council on the lines of a Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council (NAC) is being worked out that will comprise experts on land acquisition and other related subjects. The proposed Council will create a roadmap for industrialisation, education, health reforms etc in the state.

Mamata plans to have an elevated chief minister's office ( CMO) akin to PMO,which could even include one or two ministers of state (MoS), with designated responsibilites and a good number of joint secretary-level officers assigned to specific departments.

Taking a leaf out of Gujarat's book, plans are afoot to create a single-window system for industry. Mamata is studying administrative mechanisms in states like like Gujarat, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh etc. She has also told her cadres that strikes and disruptions at workplace -- synonymous with Bengal politics -- would have to be done away with.

Development of minorities, too, is high on the agenda. Mamata is keen to have R S Sachar himself to monitor the welfare of the minorities on the lines suggested by the Sachar Committee.

For an image makeover of the state, Mamata is keen on a total overhaul of information and tourism offices of Bengal in the national Capital.

However, the TMC chief is keen to ensure that the existing bureacracy in the state is not turned upside down, and is used to maintain continuity in ongoing projects. She also wants that no ongoing project should stop, while they may be reviewed, if needed.