Haldia/Calcutta : CPM state secretary Biman Bose met party leaders in Nandigram-scarred East Midnapore today and asked them to launch a campaign to convince farmers that no land would be acquired "without their consent'. The meeting came against the backdrop of the party central committee's directive to the state leadership to learn the "lesson' from its rural poll setback and redress the farmers' fear of losing their land while pursuing industrialisation. While blaming Opposition unity and rifts in the Left Front for "setbacks', party general secretary Prakash Karat had underlined the task before the state leadership: "The apprehensions about land acquisition, which led to loss of support in some areas must be removed. The plan for industrialisation must take this into account.' In the polls, the Trinamul Congress had swept East Midnapore and neighbouring South 24-Parganas, where the government had planned land acquisition for several projects. "Industrialisation is a must and the electoral setback is part of politics. But we failed to fathom the popular discontent that spilled over beyond Nandigram. We need to take cautious steps to recover,' an East Midnapore CPM district committee leader quoted Bose as saying. "We have to convince the people that we are not land sharks. Land for industry will neither be acquired without consent nor beyond the minimum requirement,' Bose told a meeting to condole the death of former district party secretary Sudhir Giri. He also held non-performing panchayats and "lifestyles of some leaders' for the alienation from the people. "Bimanda admitted that the Nandigram damage control would have to be done at the state level,' another district committee leader said. At the meeting, party leaders decided to continue their campaign in support of the acquisition of 492 acres for the shipyard at Geonkhali, 50km from Nandigram. The notice for the acquisition had been served on May 16, before the rural poll results were declared. "Trinamul has wrested the two gram panchayats there but our report says it was not because of the land row,' a district leader said. State secretariat members Surjya Kanta Mishra and Dipak Dasgupta and MP Lakshman Seth attended today's meeting. Seth's campaign for land acquisition had triggered the Nandigram land war.