From the UPA-Left national political crisis to the mystery death of Rizwanur Rehman, from placating an angry Mamata Banerjee to defusing flashpoints over Singur or Nandigram, Basu’s been stepping out of the wings to take centrestage. In the process, many in the party admit, he sometimes takes the load off the Chief Minister but at other times, he leaves many red-faced as well.

Like this week, when he emerged from a crucial meeting of the CPM state committee and told reporters that a decision has been taken to remove “two police officers” involved in the Rizwanur Rehman death case. Bhattacharjee, who also holds the police portfolio, was conspicuously silent. Five days after Basu’s announcement, no action has been taken yet.

The Opposition has been quick to label Basu as the super-Chief Minister. Says Trinamool Congress legislator Saugata Roy: “He’s working as an extra-constitutional centre of authority. Why should he comment on the transfer of two police officers? He can comment on party policies but why meddle in government matters? It harms the system.”

The system, however, party insiders say, is more nuanced than that. A senior CPM leader says that Basu had reason to be upset with Bhattacharjee who modelled his Chief Ministership as the “antithesis” of Basu’s. His constant refrain that he had to make up for the “wasted (read Basu) years” is said to have hurt the grand old man.

And yet, the Basu-Bhattacharjee relationship couldn’t be more complex.

“Sometimes it’s like a good cop (Basu)-bad cop (Buddhadeb) routine,” says a party insider who knows both the leaders. “In fact, Basu may seem to be critical of the government but every time he intervenes, he knows that it’s Bhattacharjee who has and who should have the last word.”

So when Nandigram snowballed earlier this year, Bhattacharjee wanted an all-party meeting to discuss the issue but Mamata Banerjee repeatedly spurned his invitation. Basu was roped in to speak with her.

Mamata told Basu that the government should return land of those Singur farmers who were not willing to move. Basu came out of the meeting and said he saw “logic” in Mamata’s demand. This comment got Singur smoldering again — giving in to Mamata’s demand meant virtually stalling the Tata project. The very next day, worried Ministers and CPM leaders rushed to Basu to explain why her demand couldn’t be met — Basu promptly took back his words.

Is Basu a super-Chief Minister? “It doesn’t matter, government is government and Jyoti Basu is Jyoti Basu,” says Hasim Abdul Halim, Speaker of the Assembly for an unbroken 25 years. Speaking from Geneva, he told The Indian Express: “He can advise the government but, obviously, he is not running the government. He is our political guardian and guide.”

Ironically, Basu is also a source of strength for the Opposition, too. After the March 14 police firing on Nandigram farmers, in which 14 people died, a cornered government, facing severe criticism, claimed the police had been attacked by an armed mob and had fired in self defence.

Even as Bhattacharjee remained silent, Basu went public asking why many of the victims had bullet injuries in their backs. His comment severely undermined the government’s stand.

But CPM central committee member Nirupam Sen, who is also the Commerce & Industries Minister, springs to Basu’s defence. “He is our guardian. We take his advice in any crisis. Even when he comments on government matters, we don’t face any problem in running the government,” Sen says.

According to another CPM leader, Bhattacharjee would rather prefer Basu to handle “political matters” that do not have a direct bearing on the state government — for example, UPA-Left relations at the Centre. Says a senior party leader: “As a Chief Minister, he needs a different relationship with the Centre, why should he get dragged into mediating between the UPA and Left at the Centre?”

So last Sunday, it was Basu’s house where External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee went to hold talks on the nuclear deal and avert the crisis in the government. After that meeting, attended by other comrades in Kolkata, Basu called up Prakash Karat asking him to talk to Mukherjee. Karat complied.

Basu insists on attending party programmes and he sat through the proceedings at the recently held politburo and the Central committee. In fact, the CPM Politburo met in Kolkata last month to spare Basu the physical inconvenience of a trip to Delhi. At that meeting, too, Basu asserted his presence. As hardliners, led by Karat, sharpened their knives, the reality check came from Basu who asked: “Who will take the blame for pulling down the UPA government and going to elections?” Sources said this toned down the rhetoric at the meeting.

Then there is Basu’s stature, often used to quell infighting between the nine members of the Left Front alliance, more frequent of late over many of Bhattacharjee’s economic policies. For example, Nandigram and Singur led to talk of a mini-Left Front within the Front, with partners routinely critical of the Chief Minister in public. It was Basu who stepped in, individually calling up leaders of each ally and stressing the need to show a united front. Within days, the sniping had ended, at least in public.

As Basu himself often says, “A communist never retires.” Given West Bengal’s politics, he couldn’t be more accurate.