Calcutta, April 1: A day after the high court handed out a jail-and-fine sentence to Biman Bose, the CPM brass examined ways to get him off the hook but not before acknowledging that he had crossed the fault line when he criticised former Calcutta High Court judge Amitava Lala?s order restricting rallies.

?I do not think that court orders are beyond criticism,? said a veteran CPM leader, also Bose?s colleague in the party politburo, ?but if the reports on the incident are true, there is no denying that he transgressed the bounds of law by encouraging the coining of the slogan.?

?Lala, Bangla chhere pala (Lala, leave Bengal),? was the slogan coined in the wake of the judge?s strictures on workday rallies in the city.

The party today came forward to voice support for Bose but, in private, leaders admitted that he has indeed given them a red face. These leaders have also advised him to refrain from making comments on sensitive issues. Also the Left Front chairman, Bose is known to let go of his tongue at wrong places.

In party circles, his comments on Justice Lala?s order are being likened to remarks associated with Mamata Banerjee, considered a loose cannon in politics. ?There is a bit of Mamata and Barkat (Congress?s A.B.A Ghani Khan Chowdhury) in Biman,? said a CPM leader. ?Like them, he is unpredictable.?

But there is unlikely to be any watering down of Bose?s importance in the party. The leadership is still behind him for two reasons: first, it believes the battle is with the judiciary and that Bose?s offence did not merit such a ?harsh? punishment. Second, because he enjoys considerable goodwill and is regarded a ?straight person? not diplomatic enough in public.

The result: he may find himself under strict watch in the party. Though CPM leaders are not openly talking about their displeasure over the incident, they have made it clear to him that he must stop chasing controversies.

Five years ago, he reportedly accused high court judges of altering verdicts for money. A case was filed in the court of then justice Ruma Pal, who indicted Bose.

?A responsible political leader should be more cautious about making statements,? said a senior CPM leader.

Recently, Bose made derogatory remarks against Forward Bloc?s Jiban Saha, who won the Shyampukur bypoll as the front candidate. ?I don?t know who Jiban Saha is. I was told by someone he is a drunkard,? Bose had said.

Weeks ago, he addressed a Democratic Youth Federation of India rally in Asansol by blocking GT Road.