Sources said the Left statement, which will be released tomorrow, will cite the Common Minimum Programme to argue that the Indo-US “strategic alliance” violates the foundation of the agreement on which this government was formed. Whether the statement includes a re-formulation of the Left’s support — a pull-out from the UPA-Left coordination committee or “issue-based” support — is something the Politburo is working on.

If CPI’s general secretary A B Bardhan invoked the marriage metaphor to say that the “honeymoon was over and the Left wouldn’t hesitate to file divorce papers,” CPM’s Prakash Karat added his own nuance. Before the meeting, he said that the “honeymoon may be over but the marriage can continue for some time.” What kind of a marriage this will be is something the statement is expected to spell out.

In fact, Bardhan was quick to affirm Karat’s remark: “His statement did not contradict my statement. There is no love left in the marriage. Such a marriage moves towards divorce”.

In Kolkata, former Chief Minister Jyoti Basu, who couldn’t make it to the Politburo meeting, was more direct. He said there was no question of the CPM withdrawing support to the UPA since that would give the BJP a comeback chance.

Basu’s comment reinforces the stand taken by Biman Bose, the secretary of the CPM’s state unit as well as Left Front chairman. “We are not happy with the Indo-US (nuclear) deal,” Basu said. “But that does not mean we shall withdraw support...If we withdraw support and the government falls, the BJP will get an opening and could come back to power.”

In fact, the West Bengal lobby in the Politburo — of Bose and Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee — is said to have briefed the others on the party’s state secretariat meeting in Kolkata today where it was decided not to raise the pitch so high that a pullout becomes inevitable.

At the same time, the consensus, sources said, was that the Left cannot be seen as merely barking again. To this effect, a section called for withdrawal from the UPA-Left coordination committee although this hasn’t been finalised yet.

Meanwhile, in an effort to reach out to “moderates” in the CPM, the PM hosted a dinner for Bhattacharjee. “It was a good dinner,” Bhattacharjee said. “I will report to the Politburo what happened here.”