Sourav mistaken for an impostor at Writer's Building

KOLKATA: False claims by impostors have led the chief minister''s men to commit a faux pas on Indian cricket skipper Sourav Ganguly at the Writers'' Buildings.
Taking advantage of the rapport between cricket buff Buddhadeb Bhattcharjee and Bengal''s willow icon, many telephone callers nowadays ask for access to the former claiming to be ''Maharaj''.
Irritated by the con-callers, officials at the chief minister''s secretariat were reluctant to accept a call from ''Sourav'' last week.But this time it was the real Maharaj. The officials realised the faux pas only after Ganguly was allowed to talk to Bhattacharjee.
"The first call came in the morning when the chief minister was not in the office. Since it came through the Writers'' PBX, we took him as another fake caller. As he called again, we decided to go for little grilling and asked for his phone number hoping that the impostor would lose his nerve and stop calling. But we were perplexed when he not only gave his residence number, but asked us to note down his mobile number and pass on it to the chief minister," recounted an official.
By that time, Bhattcharjee had reached his office. The mandarins thought of using a caller identification device, but there was none installed at the CM''s office.
"As soon as the CM started speaking to him in an endearing tone and enquired about the Test match, we realised our folly," said another official. Sourav apparently took it in his stride and did not mention it to Bhattacharjee while they discussed the formation of the Indian Cricket Players'' Association.
He invited Bhattacharjee to attend the fund-raising dinner of the Association at a city five-star hotel on October 31. Bhattacharjee reportedly welcomed the move and accepted the invitation.
Arun Lal, secretary of the Association, is likely to visit Writers'' on Wednesday to invite Bhattacharjee formally.