Calcutta, Oct. 19: Hours before Salim Group chairman Benny Santoso arrives in the city, chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee will ask Left Front partners not to raise any note of dissent on the proposed Indonesian investments.

Front partners like the CPI and the RSP have been vocal opponents of Bhattacharjee’s decision to offer farmland to the Salim Group.

“The chief minister is likely to ask the Front leaders not to make any public statement in this regard,” a CPM insider said today. Bhattacharjee is also expected to assure leaders of the Front constituents that he is ready to hold talks with them later, the dates for which would be fixed at tomorrow’s meeting.

After attending the meeting at 10 am at the CPM headquarters on Alimuddin Street ? it is expected to last about half-an-hour ? the chief minister will go to Writers’ Buildings, where he will address his cabinet colleagues at 11.

Observers say this meeting, too, is crucial as this will be the first time that Bhattacharjee will explain in detail the Salim Group’s proposed projects to his ministerial colleagues. The chief minister will also inform them that he will discuss the projects with Santoso at Writers’ later.

Tomorrow’s meeting with the Front partners will be the third of its kind.

At the first meeting on September 9, soon after Bhattacharjee returned from Indonesia, the chief minister had explained his plans. He also gave the partners a note on his trip and the proposed projects and sought a reply. But the CPI, RSP and the Forward Bloc refused to submit their opinions, saying the note was not comprehensive and lacked detail.

During the second meeting on September 20, Bhattacharjee promised that his government would not try to acquire farmland. He stressed that multi-crop land would not be touched and only mono-crop plots would be acquired.

The partners, who then appeared to have softened their tone, wanted to know how many farmers would be rendered landless and how many people would lose homes, shops or other establishments. But Bhattacharjee had no answer.

CPM insiders said the party and the chief minister were not ready to allow the partners to raise any more objections as the controversy had already created ripples in political circles.