Calcutta, April 8: CPM patriarch Jyoti Basu today said Subhas Chakraborty should get a berth in both the CPM state secretariat and the central committee.

“I want Subhas to be in both. The new state secretariat would be formed after the panchayat polls. Let us see what happens,’’ Basu said this evening at his Salt Lake house. “I also heard that a slot has been left vacant in the central committee. I will talk to them (the central leadership).”

Chakraborty, who has never concealed his admiration for Basu, got the much-needed support from his mentor after being denied entry into the central committee at the Coimbatore party congress.

Chakraborty had been groomed by Pramode Dasgupta in the late seventies as part of a team of young Turks that also included Anil Biswas, Biman Bose, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Shyamal Chakraborty.

But transport minister Chakraborty, known to be a loose cannon, has lost ground in the regimented CPM hierarchy. His junior, industries minister Nirupam Sen, is now in the politburo. Three others who are younger to him — housing minister Gautam Deb, panchayat subcommittee convener Madan Ghosh and education front apparatchik Mridul De — made it to the 87-member central committee at the congress.

According to party insiders, general secretary Prakash Karat did not favour his inclusion. “Prakash had to intervene formally and censure Subhasda after his Tarapith episode. The issue was discussed in the central committee. With Subhasda’s penchant for kicking up controversies at the cost of the government and the party, the leadership does not want to promote him as a senior leader,’’ a committee member said.

Chakraborty went to the Tarapith Kali temple and offered flowers and incense sticks last year, embarrassing fellow communists.

He has stood by the chief minister of late, but the tension between them has come to the fore on issues like the Cricket Association of Bengal polls in which Chakraborty backed Jagmohan Dalmiya and Bhattacharjee threw his weight behind Prasun Mukherjee.

However, Chakraborty’s popularity among the rank and file, his ability to mobilise people and resources, his image of a wronged man and, above all, Basu’s affection, have made him a force to reckon with.

Chakraborty said: “I hold what he (Basu) says in the highest of esteem.”

State party secretary Biman Bose declined comment.