Coimbatore, March 31: The CPM central leadership is looking to evolve common economic policy guidelines for its state governments, but its Bengal leaders are against any “straitjacketed approach that disregards the different ground realities”.

“We believe in unity in diversity. There is an unevenness in the development of the states as well as our party’s strength across the country,” a central committee member from Bengal said.

“So no Gosplan (the central planning commission in the former Soviet Union) will work.”

The party wants its state governments to regulate the entry of big corporate groups in retail, and the Kerala government has already proposed a surcharge on the outlets of big retail chains and plans further regulatory legislation.

Asked about this, Bengal industries minister Nirupam Sen said: “We have not taken any such steps. Let’s see what to do when we return from the party congress.”

The party’s draft political resolution has cited Reliance as an example of unchecked corporate entry in retail, but the Bengal CPM is opposed to any “drastic action that would send a wrong signal to the investors”.

The Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government has actually tried to make room for Reliance in Bengal’s retail market with an eye on possible investments by the group in sectors such as petrochemicals and natural gas.

“The party has no compulsions but the governments have. We will try to resolve the contradiction through practice. This is one of the key points that we will address in the ongoing party congress,” politburo member M.K. Pandhe said.

The CPM, to avoid accusations of doublespeak, will want its state governments to follow a set of guidelines that the party’s central committee has recommended to the Centre.

Despite its stress on uniform guidelines, the CPM, however, has accepted in its draft political organisation report that industrialisation in Kerala cannot be “on the same pattern” as in Bengal. The report appears to endorse Bhattacharjee’s industrialisation drive in Bengal.

“Investors are not keen to move to Kerala while Bengal is emerging as a favourite destination for industry, both foreign and domestic, partly because of the Centre’s ‘look east’ policy,” a state secretariat member from Bengal said.

“Land acquisition for special economic zones (SEZs) and industrial parks has not become a major political issue in Kerala unlike Bengal. Rural Kerala is more dependent on the money-order economy (money sent home by migrant workers) while Bengal’s population is overwhelmingly land-dependent. So we can’t follow the same prescription.”

The Bengal CPM’s state conference report, while opposing the Centre’s “indiscriminate and uncontrolled approval for SEZs”, says that “efforts have to be taken to set up some SEZs, both product-specific and multi-product, which would require less land”.

Else, it adds, “export-oriented industries would not come to the state and existing units would face closure”.

The draft political resolution and the draft political organisation report at the party congress have tried to strike a balance. They have stressed that “Left-led governments have to promote investment in industry and infrastructural development” but cautioned against “wholesale privatisation” and advised them to strengthen the public sector.

The party wants the SEZ act amended to regulate the size of multi-product SEZs, land use and tax sops, and the land acquisition act to take care of the displaced. But the documents at the party congress have been vague on the specifics of land-use policy and compensation.

“The compensation will differ from state to state, even project to project. There can’t be uniformity,” a Bengal leader said.