Did West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee admit to

union Home Minister P. Chidambaram that the Left government in the state was all set to be voted out of power? A Trinamool Congress MP thinks so, but Bhattacharjee says the claim was just plain 'funny'.

Asked about media reports quoting Trinamool chief whip Sudip Bandopadhyay on the issue, Bhattacharjee said: 'It has come to my notice. It is funny'.

The chief minister said the next time he goes to Delhi he would verify the claim from Chidambaram.

He said the Trinamool Congress was rooted in 'falsehood'. 'I will caution the home minister. He has not known this party for long. Earlier, they supped with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Now they are allies of the Congress. They are rooted in falsehood'.

Bandopadhyay had reportedly said in a public meeting Wednesday that Chidambaram told him three months back about Bhattacharjee confiding in him that the Left government would fall and that 'change was inevitable' in West Bengal.

The Left Front led by the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) has been ruling the state since 1977.