Left divided over FDI line

Former WB CM Jyoti Basu left the crucial CPIM Politburo meeting a little ahead of the others on Thursday evening and told reporters that he hoped the proposed UPA coordination committee would be finalised shortly.

The fact that he referred to the formation a coordination committee and refrained from bashing the Congress on FDI was signal enough that not all in the CPIM were intent on pursuing a tough line.

Party veterans, Basu and Harkishen Singh Surjeet, have not really hit the Congress hard on the FDI issue. Though he was not there today, Bengal CM Buddhadeb Bhattacharya has tended to couch his recent criticism of the Congress in a mellowed voice. The politburo meet is expected to continue till tomorrow before it finalises the agenda for the Central Committee which meets tomorrow afternoon.