Jyoti Basu

Calcutta, Oct. 8: Jyoti Basu today mounted a last-ditch attempt to avert early polls but suggested that he was not too hopeful.

Basu confirmed that foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee had yesterday come up with certain proposals to try and stall the break-up between the Left and the Congress.

“Pranab came to meet me on his way to Guwahati yesterday with a desire that it (the UPA government) does not break down. I don’t know how it will happen. But I have told Prakash (Karat) and (Sitaram) Yechury to listen to Pranab’s proposals and to see whether any compromise on the deal is possible,’’ the CPM patriarch said at his Salt Lake residence today.

But Basu was sceptical whether Pranab’s proposals would be palatable to his party. “Pranab told me that the government has to move to the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency). Our party had already opposed it. I don’t know whether our party will accept it now. The politburo will meet in Delhi on October 18 to take stock of the situation and decide our future course of action,’’ he said.

The CPM veteran would not be able to join the meeting because of his advanced age. “I won’t be able to go. Buddha (Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee) and Biman Bose would be there,’’ he added. Bhattacharjee and CPM state secretary Bose — both politburo members — were present when Pranab met Basu yesterday.

Basu, however, made it clear that he and the rest of the Bengal CPM leadership were opposed to early polls as he felt that the Left-Congress alliance had not lived its full life.

“I hope that we will be able to move together for some more time. As of now, we think it’s better not to go for early elections,’’ he said.

Basu’s reply to Sonia Gandhi’s attack on opponents was restrained. “She is talking about elections. We don’t want to break the government and invite early polls. But if Sonia insists, well, we are ready for polls,’’ he said.