After pushing the government to the brink, the Left and the Congress are scrambling to salvage it with a compromise formula on the nuclear deal.
NEW DELHI: After pushing the government to the brink, the Left and the Congress are scrambling to salvage it with a compromise formula on the nuclear deal that will save face for both sides.
The contours of the formula are still to emerge, but sources in the CPI(M) and the Congress indicated that the key to a compromise lies in muting the Left demand to “not operationalise’’ the nuclear agreement.
A senior government source explained that it will take at least six months to complete the negotiations and the agreement will come into force only after that. The government may placate the Left with caveats that will subject the operationalisation to certain conditions.
The CPI(M) politburo, which began a two-day meet in the capital on Friday, was expected to discuss possible formulations to end the standoff with the government on the nuclear issue.
West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya played emissary by conveying the sense of the discussions to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh when they met for a private dinner in the evening.
The PM’s response will be discussed when the politburo meets again on Saturday. Congress circles also indicated that Sonia Gandhi may step in to broker a peace deal if these efforts fail.
There was talk that she may meet Left leaders over the weekend.
The first signal that the Left was ready to meet the Manmohan Singh government half way came from CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat himself.
Before the party’s Politburo began its two-day meet on Friday, he told a television channel, “The honeymoon is over but the marriage will continue.’’ With Karat making it clear that the CPI(M) would not pull down the government, the door opened for a patch-up.
There was further relief when Lok Sabha speaker Somnath Chatterjee rejected the opposition’s move for a vote on the nuclear deal when it comes up for debate in Parliament next week.
This means that the government will not be embarrassed on the floor of the house and it gives the PM an opportunity to hold out an olive branch to the Left.
Washington, too, joined the scramble to save the government and the deal on Friday, with US state department spokesman Sean McCormack disowning his controversial remarks that the nuclear agreement would be terminated if India conducts another test. He said he was “misquoted’’ by the media.
However, this is unlikely to satisfy the Left, which insists that the termination provision forms part of the Hyde Act and is binding on future US administrations.
The face-off with the Left has created an acute dilemma for the PM. By linking the survival of his government to the deal, he has pushed the stakes very high. If he backs down, he loses face at home and with the Bush administration. If he doesn’t agree to a compromise, he loses his government.
Left sources said that the PM’s dinner invitation to Bhattacharya is an indication that he wants a way out of the present crisis.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}