Calcutta, Aug. 27: Bowing to pressure from Front allies on the land-use controversy, the CPM today agreed to hold separate talks with the Forward Bloc, RSP and the CPI.

The three parties have opposed chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s decision to hand over farmland in South 24-Parganas to the Indonesia-based Salim Group for setting up industry.

RSP leader and former irrigation minister Debabrata Bandopadhyaya demanded that the MoU with the Salim Group be scrapped.

Bhattacharjee, who returned yesterday from a five-day trip to Singapore and Jakarta where the deal was sealed, refused to comment on his visit. “I will hold a press conference on Monday and clear all issues,” he said.

However, state CPM secretary Anil Biswas today called state Bloc secretary Ashok Ghosh to say a meeting would be held with the party tentatively on September 5 or 6, after the CPM’s central committee and politburo meetings are over. Meetings with other allies will follow.

Biswas’s call follows a letter from the Bloc leadership. “We are even opposed to conversion of mono-crop land for industrial purpose. We need industries for Bengal but not at the cost of poor farmers,” Bloc state secretary Ashok Ghosh said.

Ghosh said the party had told Biswas there was confusion over what Bhattacharjee said during his visit. “This confusion is harming the unity of the Left Front? thus a bilateral meeting is very important so that we reach a unanimous position.”

Asked why the Bloc is not seeking a Front meeting, he said: “We want to clear the confusion with the CPM. There is no problem if a Front meeting is called later.”

However, Amar Chowdhury, PWD minister and RSP leader, demanded an immediate Front meeting to “clear misgivings”. “Bhattacharjee’s promises on conversion of agricultural lands go against the avowed policy of the Left Front,” he said, in Delhi.

The CPI will take up the issue at its national council meeting in Delhi on August 30.