The new Bengal tiger
Political profile
One of the three proteges of Marxist ideologue Promode Dasgupta -- who is credited with building the Communist Party of India-Marxist edifice in West Bengal -- Bhattacharya became a member of the CPI-M secretariat, the party's state committee and a member of the powerful CPI-M Politburo relatively young.
He joined Jyoti Basu's first cabinet in 1977 as the minister in charge of information and public relations, subsequently renamed the information and cultural affairs department. He held the post till 1982.
From 1987 to 1994, he was the minister in charge of the departments of information and cultural affairs, department of local government, urban development and metropolitan development.
He also gained a reputation for being outspoken.
Bhattacharya was given additional charge of the home (police) department in 1996.
Three years later the party appointed him deputy chief minister. A post created to give some respite to then chief minister Jyoti Basu, who was 85.
Bhattacharya took over as chief minister on November 6, 2000 from Basu, who retired from active politics.
The chief minister with Gorkha leader Subhash Ghising. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images
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