Calcutta/Nanoor, July 27: Haldia in pocket, the CPM would now be tough with the Opposition in nearby Nandigram, Jyoti Basu said today.

“Efforts to restore normality in Nandigram had been suspended because of the municipal election. The process will be renewed from today,” the CPM patriarch said a day after the Trinamul Congress spurned Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s talks offer yet again.

“Nandigram can’t be allowed to run as a liberated zone for long. We have won the Haldia poll, even in the areas close to Nandigram, after so many incidents in the zone,’’ Basu said after the weekly meeting of the CPM state secretariat at the party headquarters.

He lashed out at the Opposition parties for their “opportunist alliance” in Haldia.

“The Trinamul, Congress, BJP and others had entered into an opportunist alliance against the Left Front. Those who voted for them should be asked why they opted for this kind of an alliance,” he said.

Although the chief minister and industries minister Nirupam Sen had stressed on political consensus on proposed chemical hubs and special economic zones in the state, Basu’s comments indicate that the party has been emboldened by the Haldia results.

The CPM’s allies feel the party’s rank and file, particularly those in East Midnapore, would now mount pressure on the leadership to end the “Opposition rule” in Nandigram.

The CPM state committee meeting, which begins on Sunday, is expected to discuss the matter along with next year’s panchayat polls.

Trinamul chief Mamata Banerjee continued to pour scorn on Bhattacharjee, wondering whether he had any balm for those who have lost their family members in the Nandigram police firing.

She said the chief minister’s apology yesterday for his barbs at the Opposition was of no consequence. “Only one balm works — punishment for the culprits of the Nandigram violence on March 14.”