Calcutta, Sept. 27: The CPM today stood by Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee in his standoff with the Forward Bloc, which renewed its pullout threat but appeared to leave an escape hatch open.

“There are no differences in the party on this, nor any chance of reconsidering the chief minister’s decision,’’ CPM state secretariat member Benoy Konar told The Telegraph.

The Bloc said it would be ready to change its mind if the Left Front “unanimously” backed Bhattacharjee’s decision to bypass the coalition partner and order a licence issued to Metro Cash & Carry by September 30.

Bloc state secretary Ashok Ghosh wrote to front chairman Biman Bose asking for a meeting of the allies, and CPM sources said the meeting was likely on Sunday or Monday.

Bloc leader and agri-marketing board chairman Naren Chatterjee, who has taken a hard line against the German wholesaler so far, conceded the marketing committee was legally bound to obey the chief minister’s order or “it would face punishment”.

The Bloc yesterday asked its four ministers to stop going to Writers’ Buildings after Bhattacharjee, in a rare exercise of his discretionary powers, ordered the South 24-Parganas Regulated Market Committee to issue/renew Metro’s revoked licence. The Bloc also threatened that its ministers would resign if the order wasn’t withdrawn.

At this morning’s informal meeting of the CPM state secretariat, Bhattacharjee explained his decision to use his special powers, sources said.

Konar said the party had approved Bhattacharjee’s decision, adding that Bhattacharjee had tried his best for the past two months to persuade the Bloc to re-issue Metro’s licence. He added that Bhattacharjee’s move was aimed not only to douse Metro’s pullout threat but also to reassure other investors worried over Singur.

“The chief minister can’t be a helpless spectator when he knows the repercussions on all other investors would be terrible. Even the German airline (Lufthansa) had threatened to pull out from Calcutta,” Konar said.

Bloc leaders said they had received the “signal” when no conciliatory calls arrived from Alimuddin Street. “If Buddhababu hadn’t got his party’s approval, we would have received calls saying he would relent… as had happened earlier,” a Bloc leader said.

“We will change our stand only if the Left Front decides unanimously to support the chief minister,’’ Ghosh said.