I do not support any bandh. I agree it’s not helping anyone... But unfortunately as I belong to one party and they call a strike, I keep mum...But I have finally decided that next time I will open my mouth.” Applause may have greeted this remark by West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Tuesday but his comrades in Delhi aren’t impressed.

So the CPM Politburo today — which has not issued a single statement on the current standoff in Singur — said that “in the context of certain remarks made by Comrade Bhattacharjee,” the party wishes to “clarify” that it “firmly stands for the right to strike by the working class as a fundamental right.” The statement added: “It has consistently supported the all-India general strikes of the trade unions against the neo-liberal policies of the Central Government and other urgent issues of the working class and the toiling people.”

Sources said the issue will figure at the Sept 6-7 Politburo meeting. Asked whether the CM would be censured — as was done in the case of Kerala MP A P Abdullakutty who also spoke against strikes — sources said it would depend up on the Politburo.

On one count, though, Bhattacharjee got some comfort. CPM Politburo member Sitaram Yechury, in an editorial in the party paper, said those opposing the Tata plant were enemies of Bengal’s prosperity.