Calcutta, Sept. 22: Left Front partners CPM and Forward Bloc will meet on September 28 to decide the fate of German wholesaler Metro Cash & Carry in the state.

The company’s managing director in India, Martin Dlouhy, is scheduled to call on state ministers tomorrow. Agriculture minister Naren De, whom Dlouhy will meet, said the CPM-Bloc meeting had been called to discuss Metro.

Metro’s 100,000sqft store off EM Bypass is complete but the company is waiting for the Bloc-run state agri-marketing board’s licence to sell farm produce. On Thursday, Metro said it was “evaluating” its options in what appeared a veiled pullout threat.

Asked what if Metro left the state, De said: “What they will do is their business.”

Metro was issued with the licence by the agri-marketing board in 2005. It was renewed in 2006 and 2007, but abruptly withdrawn in June 2007.

Dlouhy will look for an assurance from the government, but any decision is unlikely before September 28. Party sources said the CPM, preoccupied with Singur, is unlikely to press for Metro’s licence or risk antagonising the Bloc now.

Political sources said the Bloc would take a decision at its secretariat meeting on September 26. Its leaders said they would oppose Metro’s entry.

Bloc secretariat member Hafiz Alam Sairani said: “If the company is so interested in offering a better price and shelf value for farm produce, let them develop cold-storage facilities and marketing infrastructure.”