Bengal Governor invites Bhattacharjee to form Goverment

Kolkata, May 15 (UNI) West Bengal Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi today invited Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee to become the Chief Minister of the state and form a new Council of Ministers.

The Governor's invitation came after Mr Bhattacharjee met him at the Rajbhavan with a letter from Left Front Committee Chairman Biman Basu conveying that he (Mr Bhattacharjee) had been elected as the Leader of the Left Front Legislators for the 14th state Assembly.

Mr Bhattacharjee also submitted his resignation to the Governor as part of the formal procedure towards formation of the seventh Left Front Government following completion of the General elections to the state Assembly and the Election Commission's notification constituting the newly elected Assembly.

The Governor accepted Mr Bhattacharjee's resignation and requested him to continue until alternative arrangements were made.

Mr Bhattacharjee told the Governor that he would submit the names of the new Council of Ministers on May 17 afternoon. Following this, the Governor would issue a notification appointing the Council of Ministers to be sworn in on May 18.

Meanwhile, a meeting of the CPI(M) State secretariat, held here during the day, remained inconclusive over finalisation of the names of possible ministers of the seventh Left Front Government. Veteran Marxist leader Jyoti Basu, who participated in the meeting, said the State Committee would meet again tomorrow to finalise the names before the Left Front meeting on May 17.

UNI KDG SJC DB1853