Left warns of 'big political price' if govt goes ahead with N-deal

NEW DELHI: The Left parties on Sunday kept up pressure on the issue of Indo-US nuclear deal saying the bottomline was that the government should not go ahead implementing it as otherwise it would have to pay a "big political price".

CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat said that the prime concern of Left parties is to ensure that the government does not proceed with operationalising the agreement by starting negotiations with IAEA on safeguard accord next month.

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"Our prime concern is that the government should not proceed with the negotiations on the safeguard agreement with IAEA in September," he said.

He said Left parties were expecting a response from the government on their concerns by tomorrow and would study it to decide on their position at a meeting on Monday.

Karat's CPI counterpart A B Bardhan told reporters in Ahmedabad that the Left has conveyed to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that the government should not operationalise the deal.

"They (UPA) has to pay a big political price if they are not ready to reconcile with us on the nuclear issue", he said.

Senior CPI(M) leader Biman Bose asked Congress to show flexibility in its stand that the nuclear deal cannot be renegitated.