“At our party congress in March, we shall discuss the issue further and take a decision,” the former chief minister told reporters on Tuesday after an unscheduled meeting of the CPM Secretariat at its Alimuddin Street headquarters. He added, “At the moment, no clear picture has emerged on the proposed third alternative.”

Tuesday’s meeting was called to finalise a draft report for the party’s state conference to be held from January 13 to 17 in Kolkata.

CPM strategists feel the BJP has been able to cash in on the strong anti-incumbency factor that is plaguing the Congress, as has been made evident from the recent election results of Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh. Basu said the BJP has consolidated its position in these two elections. His party feels this is the right time for the third alternative to take shape. It is understood the party may be in talks with old friends Lalu Prasad Yadav and Mulayam Singh Yadav in the north and Chandrababu Naidu in the south.

In May this year, the CPM faces elections in the three-tier panchayat system in which West Bengal’s voters will decide the fate of nearly 55,000 seats. The party is aware it is still to live down the resentment over the Nandigram-Singur land acquisition issue and the Muslim electorate’s disenchantment over Rizwanur Rehman’s murder.