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.”