Mukherjee stressed that all major projects in Bengal, including the PCPIR and township developments projects, are on track and moving on smoothly.

"We already have 13,000 acres and are in a position to claim another 12,000 acres."

A non-resident Indian, Mukherjee had mediated the deal between the Salim Group and the state government in July 31, 2006, two months after Bhattacharjee took began his second term as the chief minister.

From mid-2006, the megacorp announced three separate projects. The largest, involving an investment of Rs 40,000 crore, was to be implemented by a Special Purpose Vehicle, the New Kolkata Infrastructure Development.

The NKID was to set up two Special Economic Zones, a cluster or industrial estates, a 100-km Expressway and a clutch of townships, involving the acquisition of nearly 37,300 acres.

The NKID project received a setback in 2007, when people of Nandigram violently resisted the government's attempts to acquire farmland for a chemical industrial estate and an SEZ without consulting them.

The result showed up this year: the CPM was routed in the elections to the three-tier panchayat setup in East Midnapore and South 24 Parganas.

Another project, a motorcycle manufacturing company Mahabharat Motors was to build low-cost bikes with Chinese technology and branded Arjun by Bhattacharjee himself.

The third project, also in Howrah, was an ambitious township billed as the largest Foreign Direct Investment in real estate at the time.