Calcutta, June 18 :    Calcutta, June 18:  Tough talk last week, conciliatory this week. The Forward Bloc, one of the Left Front's smaller partners, had last week sought to launch a stir against the government's planned reforms in the farm sector. Today, it began winding up the campaign even before it became operational. MP Jayanta Roy, in a broad indication of the climbdown, said the party had dropped its earlier plans to design an 'alternative' to the agriculture policy the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government formulated on the basis of recommendations of consultancy firm McKinsey. 'We are not talking about any alternative agriculture policy,' the member of the Bloc's secretariat said. 'What is of importance now is to frame a policy that bears the stamp of consensus and accommodates all relevant opinions regarding agriculture.' Sources said the Bloc was compelled to change tack because of several reasons. While Big Brother CPM worked behind the scenes, a powerful lobby within the Bloc pressed the leadership to distance itself from the campaign for an alternative policy which, it believed, represented the position of agriculture minister Kamal Guha, leader of the other lobby. It is learnt that the leadership indicated to Guha yesterday that it saw no merit in his proposal for an alternative farm policy in the prevailing economic and political situation in Bengal. This is the second time in one year that the Bloc had to act to bottle up Guha, who had caused a flutter by demanding the creation of the post of deputy chief minister - by implication, for himself - for assisting Bhattacharjee. Another proof of the beginning of the end of the anti-reforms campaign was the identical letters the Bloc leadership wrote to Bhattacharjee and Front chairman Biman Bose, asking for a deferment of the agriculture policy in the Cabinet meeting on June 27. The Bloc, especially Guha, had mounted an attack on the government which peaked last Friday in and outside the Assembly, encouraging smaller allies and the Congress and the Trinamul Congress to train their guns on the farm policy. Today, the Bloc dropped the term 'alternative' and used a different nomenclature - 'practical proposals' - to give an impression of resistance to the policy while actually opting out of the anti-reforms campaign. 'We are going to put forward a number of practical proposals for incorporating into the policy that will finally be put into operation. There is no question of going into a confrontation with the government. All that we want them to do is examine the proposals and initiate wider discussions involving peasant lobbies and others. There is no need to rush, let the discussions continue till August,' Roy said. The current Assembly session comes to an end in July. Offering a clue as to how the CPM blunted the anti-reforms campaign, Anil Biswas, state party secretary, said Bhattacharjee's government and the CPM would initiate consultations for framing a 'realistic' policy. 'The chief minister has received proposals from various quarters. I am sure he will frame a policy that will address all the expressed concerns,' Biswas said. Shifting positions of its allies also contributed to the Bloc's climbdown. The RSP today softened its resistance, saying it saw merit in many of McKinsey's recommendations. 'We will continue to oppose the government if it goes ahead and implements McKinsey's recommendations regarding contract farming because it will hamper the interest of marginal and poor farmers. But we will not hesitate to say that some of Mckinsey's recommendations are scientific and should be examined seriously,' RSP leader Kshiti Goswami said. The CPI will meet tomorrow to finalise its stand. 'We will have to discuss the implications of McKinsey's recommendations. Nothing can be said definitively,' said Nandagopal Bhattacharjee, minister and state council member.