The politburo meeting, scheduled for April 29, will focus on the strategy for the state panchayat elections in May.

The meeting will also discuss Basu’s request for the induction of the controversial Subhas Chakraborty in the Central Committee or the State Secretariat. Subhas, a senior leader and a state minister, has already missed a politburo berth.

“Prakash Karat phoned me on Sunday to make arrangements for the politburo meeting in Kolkata,” Biman Bose said. “But this time, there will be no meeting of the Central Committee.”

Politburo member Sitaram Yechury, meanwhile, called on Jyoti Basu today at his Salt Lake residence. Yechury was here to attend the flagging off the Maitree Express as a Rajya Sabha member from West Bengal. He reportedly made some caustic comments earlier about Basu’s public statements on Chakraborty’s induction.

Today, however, Yechury said he had never said anything in this regard. “There are very few politicians who have the courage to admit their mistakes,” Yechury said, emerging from his meeting with Basu.

Basu had recently publicly voiced his anguish at the party’s refusal to give Chakraborty a Central Committee (CC) berth. Last week, however, he admitted his fault in making public statements on the party’s internal matters.