The CPI (M) struck to its stand that the government should keep the Indo-US N-deal agreement on hold till its objections are 'properly evaluated'.
NEW DELHI: The crisis for Manmohan Singh government deepened on Monday with Left leaders indicating that they would withdraw support to the government around mid-September if it pursued the Indo-US nuclear agreement.
In other words, if India moved the nuke deal forward at the scheduled International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) board meeting, the government may be reduced to a minority with the withdrawal of support from the Left.
Stepping up their opposition, the Left parties at an emergency meeting on Monday discussed the stand off and said any efforts to resolve the crisis can fructify "only if the next step at IAEA is not taken."
Sources said the decision will be communicated to the government on Monday night. The Left leaders said they are waiting for the government to respond. However, government sources said they would not call off the negotiations. With both the camps refusing to budge from their respective stand, any compromise now looks remote.
CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat, who has adopted a hawkish stand on the issue and got the politburo to back him, has convened a larger central committee (CC) meeting here on Wednesday and Thursday to get the politburo’s endorsed.
Sources said the CC will also review the performance of the government and list violations of Common Minimum Programme.
Making it abundantly clear that they are not enthused by the compromise formula (the committee or mechanism being set up to study the implications of the Hyde Act and putting further progress on the nuclear deal on hold till it submits its report).
The Left leaders said setting up of the committee had no meaning if the government went ahead with its decision to get the deal ratified by the IAEA.
Mid-September bolt likely: Left
“The Left parties can understand the setting up of a committee or any other mechanism which can go into the objections regarding the agreement and evaluating the implications of the Hyde Act for the N-deal. But this can follow only when the next step at the IAEA is not taken," they said in a statement after the meeting.
A senior Left leader, who attended the meeting, and did not wish to be named, said “support will be withdrawn around mid-September if the Atomic Energy Commission chairman Anil Kakodkar went to Vienna to negotiate with IAEA." He added, “We cannot back off from our stand.”
CPI(M) politburo member MK Pandhe said, “If the government goes ahead with the deal our support to the government cannot be guaranteed. That is very clear now — the Left parties have made it clear and there is no question of our going back."
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