NAME: BUDDHADEB BHATTACHARJEE AGE: 62 DESIGNATION: Chief Minister STATE: West Bengal

One of the first congratulatory messages he received after leading his party to a resounding seventh consecutive victory was from Ratan Tata. This was followed by a similar call from Bene Santosa, head of Indonesian conglomerate, Salim Group. These calls reflect the ease with which one-time Marxist hardliner Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has embraced liberalisation. Few could have foreseen this transformation when Bhattacharjee-then better known as a literature and theatre buff-succeeded Jyoti Basu as Chief Minister of West Bengal in November, 2000. But his "do it now" mantra caught the imagination of the middle class and rapidly took him out of his predecessor's large shadow. "I have no hesitation in saying that Buddhadeb Babu is the best Chief Minister in the country. He is sincere, transparent, honest, action-oriented and tries to make things happen," says Sanjeev Goenka, Vice Chairman, RPG Enterprises.

Naturally, Bhattacharjee has emerged as the poster boy of economic reforms at the state level. He publicly opposed his party's agitation against the privatisation of the Delhi and the Mumbai airports and also supported pension reforms. He even questioned the relevance of Marxism in today's world and took a swipe at CPI(M) hardliners in Kerala who are yet to come to terms with reforms. "Why should we oppose foreign companies if they create jobs? Why should we oppose the setting up of malls by MNCs if they provide employment to our jobless youth?" he asked. He himself has no problems inviting industrialists of all hues to invest in his state. "If you go to Buddhadeb Babu with a problem, he'll try and solve it across the table. This is in contrast to the earlier practice of referring problems to a committee," says Goenka. Result: his popularity is at an all-time high and he was voted the "most sought-after Kolkatan" in a poll conducted by a leading English daily earlier this year. The question now is: can he sell his (and the UPA government's) reforms agenda to his still unreformed comrades? And can he, in the process, become India's Deng Xiaoping? Lots of people are already betting he can.