Calcutta, Jan. 5: With the tension over land acquisition mounting, differences between the CPM and its allies widened today on the interpretation of ground realities.

Indicating the need to close ranks to take on the forces opposed to industrialisation, CPM general secretary Prakash Karat had yesterday said that the Left Front should meet before the government moves ahead in Nandigram.

But the allies complained today as CPM state secretary and front chairman Biman Bose is yet to convene a meeting.

“We didn’t see a people’s reaction in Nandigram. It was the handiwork of the forces that want to stop the wheels of history in Bengal. They had tried their hand in Singur earlier,’’ said S.R. Pillai, a politburo member and president of the party’s peasant wing.

Bose condemned the attack on the CPM office in Nandigram and said the party would counter the “anti-industrialisation forces active behind the violence” by rallying people.

The CPI and the Forward Bloc, however, refused to dismiss the resistance in Singur and Nandigram as created by “Opposition design” alone.

“We see it in the context of questions being raised over acquisition of land for industry. The people’s apprehensions are not baseless. If any notice has been served, it should be withdrawn and a front meeting should be held,’’ CPI national secretariat member Shamim Faizee said.

“Bengal needs industrialisation. But it cannot be accomplished by alienating farmers. Lack of transparency on land deals, refusal to take people and partners into confidence and mishandling of farmers’ resistance are giving Opposition a handle,’’ he added.

Forward Bloc general secretary Debabrata Biswas accused Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee of following in the “footsteps of (former Andhra Pradesh chief minister) Chandrababu Naidu in the name of development”. He insisted that new industries can be housed on the “premises of closed mills, land left unused by investors and non-irrigated land”.

Industries minister Nirupam Sen had clarified earlier that unlocking land in closed factories was a time-consuming task and that Bengal could not afford that time.

In a report presented at the ongoing CPI national council, the Bengal unit expressed doubts over the government’s figures on multi-crop land taken over in Singur and asked it to “seriously re-examine the way the land has been acquired”.