Nuke truce till October 22

NEW DELHI: The UPA government and its Left allies on Tuesday decided to defer their final showdown over the India-US nuclear deal for another 12 days. The 15-member panel set up to address the Left’s  concerns is to meet again on October 22.

The comrades changed their script a bit on Tuesday after the government said it would not start formal negotiations with the IAEA till the committee submitted its findings. The Left in turn permitted the government to continue “informal talks”.

The Left also okayed the Prime Minister’s scheduled meeting with IAEA director general Mohammad El Baradei. India was a member of the IAEA governing body  and as such there was no harm in their meeting.

Downplaying El Baradei’s  visit, CPI(M) politburo member Sitaram Yechury said “atithi devo bhava [a guest is like God]”.

Left sources interpreted the developments as averting a crisis till December. A senior Left leader said for any India-specific discussion at the IAEA, India had to give 45 days notice the last day for which was October 7.  Since the government missed that date, the matter was unlikely to come up before the board in its November meeting.