Calcutta, Sept. 13: The CPM today switched to confrontation mode in the Singur standoff, armed with the support of the Left Front partners.

The front has decided to go to the “people’s court” directly, with its top leaders set to attend a rally in Singur on Monday, which the chief minister is likely to address. A similar campaign will be launched across the state.

The government will release newspaper ads tomorrow giving details of its rehabilitation package for the Singur farmers in a prelude to the political counter-offensive against the Trinamul Congress-led Opposition.

Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and industries minister Nirupam Sen attended the front meeting today as well as the CPM state secreta-riat huddle that preceded it at the state CPM headquarters.

While Sen explained the package to the allies, Bhattacharjee made it clear that he had made the “highest offer on land” to Mamata and would not be able to concede further as it would risk a Tata pullout.

The decision to hold the rally was taken apparently to reassure the Tatas — believed to have told the government they would decide the fate of the project by Monday — that all was not lost.

“There is no question of further concession on land from within the project area. The 70 acres offered is the maximum. The vendor park and the mother plant are integral and can’t be separated,’’ said CPM state secretary and front chairman Biman Bose.

Officially doors are still open for dialogue, but the mood was clear after the government today refused to hold a meeting of the committee formed to examine the scope of land return from the project.

“Further discussions would be futile after Mamata Banerjee has spurned the chief minister’s offer. Let the people of Singur and the rest of Bengal decide,’’ said CPM state secretariat member Benoy Konar.

Bose made it clear the government would not offer 100 acres to the landlosers outside the project, thus ruling out another round of acquisition.

The Opposition is not keen on finding alternative land fearing a “trap to turn the farmers’ ire” on them. “When the Opposition-controlled panchayat samiti is not ready to take the responsibility, why should the government join the endless process of (acquisition and resettlement)?’’ Bose argued.

The government and the CPM want the landlosers to buy plots with the additional 50 per cent compensation that they have been offered.

“The people must realise that Mamata is not really interested in landlosers but she wants to delay the project and ultimately stop it,’’ MP Mohammad Salim said.