Buddhadeb Bhattacharya served as the chief minister from the year 2000 to 2011. He resigned from his post on 13th May after his party lost to All India Trinmool congress in the Assembly Elections. An avid reader, a poet, Buddhadeb Bhattacharya is a man of principle.

Early Life of Buddhadeb Bhattacharya
This eminent politician from West Bengal was born on 1st March 1944 in North Kolkata. In 1964, soon after receiving graduation from Presidency College, under University of Calcutta, he joined the Communist Party of India (Marxist) as a primary member. Bhattacharya started his career as a teacher at the Dum Dum Adarsh Vidya Mandir. Besides supporting the Vietnam`s cause in 1968, took active part in the food movement.

Political Career of Buddhadeb Bhattacharya
Buddhadeb Bhattacharya was selected as a Legislative Assembly Member from the Kashipur constituency in 1977. That was for the first time, the CPI (M)-led Left Front came to power in West Bengal. He was entrusted the charge of the Ministry of Information and Culture.

In 1987, he changed his constituency to Jadavpur after being defeated in the 1982 assembly election from Kashipur. His move was flourishing; he won comfortably and retrieved his post as information and culture minister, with additional charge of municipal affairs. In the 1991 assembly election, he again won from Jadavpur. In 1996, for the fifth consecutive time, the CPI-M won the West Bengal assembly elections. With additional authority over the home (police) ministry, Bhattacharya was once again appointed as the information and culture minister. The two leaders, Jyoti Basu and Bhattacharya become closer during this period and Bhattacharya also grew as a politician.

When Basu decided to step down in 2000, this finally led to his being promoted as the Chief Minister. This took place much ahead of the State Assembly elections which was due in May 2001. With the objective of making the administration look cleaner, Bhattacharya was made the Chief Minister. The victory of the Left Front government in West Bengal was primarily due to his clean image. The Left Front government was established for 6th term in May 2001, though with a much reduced majority.

Bengal`s economy has been significantly liberalised, after he had become the chief minister. He has brought in a lot of foreign investment in Bengal. Under his leadership, many new industries and IT related services have emerged. He promoted industrialization in West Bengal. His clean image turned to be his biggest asset, which helped him to lead the Left Front to a 7th consecutive term in 2006 Assembly Elections. His party, along with its front partners, suffered heavy losses in the Lok Sabha election 2009.

Personal Life of Buddhadeb Bhattacharya
Bhattacharya is married to Mira Bhattacharya and the couple has one daughter Suchetana Bhattacharya. Buddhadeb has contributed to Bengali theatre, movies and music during his tenure from his favourite position.

This salient personality has also written a book of poems `Chena Phooler Gondho`, or "The Fragrance of the Known Flowers", written for the stage. This admirer of Rabindra Sangeet also translated the works of Gabriel Garca Marquez and Vladimir Mayakovsky into Bengali.