Calcutta, April 22: The CPM has asked Forward Bloc veteran Ashok Ghosh to contain the possible damage done by his recent remarks on the police firing in Nandigram.

Two days ago, Ghosh seemed to suggest Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee had personally ordered the firing that left 14 people dead. “The chief minister has admitted at a Left Front meeting that he had committed a mistake by ordering the police firing,” he had said and gone on to laud Bhattacharjee for the admission.

The part of the statement that referred to the order to fire gave Mamata Banerjee fresh ammunition days before the state goes to the polls.

When CPM state secretary Biman Bose and Bhattacharjee spoke to the 86-year-old Bloc leader today, he said the media hadn’t reported his statement properly. “He will explain tomorrow what he said and what he didn’t,” Bose said after a Left Front meeting.

Asked whether the police took such drastic action without informing the chief minister, Bose became angry: “Comrade Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee ghashe mukh diye chalen na. Why will he do something that isn’t a chief minister’s job (order firing)?’’