Former chief minister Jyoti Basu, Chakraborty’s mentor, did not finally lobby the Politburo to get him a berth in the CC. With Chakraborty having missed a chance to get into the CC at the Coimbatore party congress in March end, Basu had said he would place Chakraborty’s case before the next Politburo.

However, the Politburo meeting on Tuesday discussed job allotment for the members of the newly-constituted body. Basu did not raise the issue of Chakraborty’s elevation at all. After the two-hour meeting, Basu said: “The issue was not discussed in the party. I had just made a suggestion.” At Writers’ Buildings, Chakraborty, when cornered by reporters, said he had nothing to say about today’s Politburo meeting. At the Coimbatore party congress, leaders like housing minister Gautam Deb and state secretariat member Mridul De, who are Chakraborty’s juniors, found berths in the CC. Basu, who could not travel to Coimbatore because of his health, was left watching the proceedings from the sidelines.