Chief Minister Jyoti Basu himself proposed Bhattacharjee's name, earlier cleared by the CPI(M) state secretariat, in the Left Front meeting and requested the Front leaders to accept it, CPI(M) politburo member Biman Bose told newsmen.

The octogenarian chief minister, he said, apprised the Front leaders of his health condition and said he could attend his office in the state only in the first half.

The Front constituents unanimously accepted Bhattacharjee's name for the post created for the first time during the 23-year-rule of the Front government but demanded the formation of a core committee to monitor the functioning of various state government departments. The chief ministerpromised to `actively' consider the proposal, he said.

Protesting against Bhattacharjee's appointment as deputy chief minister, Trinamool Congress observed ``black day'' today and said that the people would not accept it.

Its ally BJP also ridiculed Bhattacharjee's appointment, saying that he `failed' as the Home (Police) Minister. During his tenure killing, abduction and activities of ISI were on the rise in the state, party general secretary Rahul Sinha said.

The leader of the Congress Legislature Party, Atish Chandra Sinha, said that Bhattacharjee's performance as the Home minister was `unsatisfactory'.

Even as the Front constituents demanded the core committee, Bose said that they were not surprised at the proposal. In fact, they wanted to revive the core committee which existed during the first Left Front government, he said.

Meanwhile, Bhattacharjee said that he has to work hard to improve the performance of the Front government.

Describing his elevation as an added responsibility,Bhattacharjee said that he would consult the chief minister and talk to other ministers before deciding his priority.

The decision to create the deputy chief minister's post was taken at the recent politburo meeting of the CPI(M) to lessen the burden from Basu's head. Basu had sought retirement from his post on health ground.