Calcutta, April 22: Patriarch Jyoti Basu and state CPM chief Biman Bose spoke in different tunes today on how to deal with the Left Front partners in the dispute over land acquisition for industry.

Inaugurating the new district party headquarters in Howrah, Basu stressed on dialogue and consensus, but Bose warned dissenting allies that they would not gain at the expense of the CPM.

In view of the CPM’s continuing spat with the RSP, Forward Bloc and the CPI, Basu said: “We should keep in mind that the Left Front government is not the CPM’s government. All partners, even those who do not have MLAs, need to be heard and consulted. The government has to run on consensus.’’

He backed the government’s industrialisation drive, though, urging the party’s rank and file to try to win over opponents. “We’ve not gone mad that we would snatch away the land from farmers that we distributed among them earlier. But people who are still with the Opposition need to be convinced about that.’’

Bose, on the contrary, was harsh on the allies. “There is no denying that the Nandigram firing is regrettable. But some friends have joined the Opposition’s anti-CPM campaign. They must realise that the front can’t be strengthened by weakening the CPM,’’ he said.

He ridiculed Bloc veteran Ashok Ghosh and the RSP’s Kshiti Goswami — without naming them —for reacting to his article where he likened the allies to Kalidas, who was about to chop off the branch of a tree on which he was perched.

“I heard my write-up has angered and pained some people. But sugar-coated words can’t suppress the bitter truths of history. People know why the two United Front governments between 1967 and 1970 were dismissed,” Bose said, holding the allies responsible for it.

Basu “advised caution” to Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on the sidelines of a programme on Lenin’s birthday. “The chief minister told him he wasn’t happy with the allies making a hue and cry over SEZs when he had assured that none would come up before the debate over them was settled at the Centre,’’ a front leader said.