Calcutta, March 23: CPM state secretary Biman Bose today said the government was mulling a “sub-plan” for the development of Muslim-dominated areas on the lines of a central scheme for tribals. But not all party leaders from the community were hopeful.

“We are considering all the aspects of it (the sub-plan). I can’t disclose it right now,” Bose said.

About a fourth of the voters in the panchayat polls, two months away, will be Muslim.

Under the central sub- plan for tribal-dominated areas, the state has to provide the same amount as the Centre for development projects.

At a meeting with the Prime Minister last week, Bose said, the Left Front had demanded the sub-plan for 12 Bengal districts “where Muslims are living in a concentrated manner”.

A CPM leader from the community said: “The finance minister had hinted at a sub-plan for Muslims in the budget speech last year.’’

“He possibly dropped the idea because no such sub-plan is possible without the Planning Commission’s permission. We have contemplated a state-level action plan but things have yet to take shape,” he added.

Around 26 per cent of the state’s population is Muslim.

The Sachar committee report has revealed the community’s plight in education, health and employment in Left-ruled Bengal. The “sub-plan” aims to undo the damage to the image of the government and the party.

Speaker Hashim Abdul Halim, MP Mohammad Salim and minority affairs minister Abdus Sattar attended a CPM sub-committee meeting on Muslims today to fine-tune the party’s campaign strategy before the May polls.

The party fears an erosion in support with the emergence of Muslim politicians like Siddiqullah Chowdhury and Idris Ali in the wake of the Nandigram violence, the ration riots and the row over Taslima Nasreen.

The party’s central sub-committee has already drawn up a charter of demands that includes reservation for Muslim Dalits and OBCs.

Apart from administrative steps to ensure the welfare of Muslim sharecroppers, the landless and other disadvantaged sections, the state budget has hiked the allocation for minority affairs and madarsa education from Rs 40 crore to Rs 130 crore.

In Delhi, the front leaders handed the Prime Minister a list of Bengal’s complaints against the Centre.

The list left a pointer to the issues likely to come up before the rural polls — price rise, cuts in the state’s quota of foodgrain for public distribution and central control over the scheme guaranteeing 100 days’ work for rural households.