Disillusioned by Left, Congress not to give up

NEW DELHI: The ruling Congress had its fingers crossed Tuesday over the Indo-US nuclear deal after failing to persuade its communist allies to go slow on their uncompromising opposition.

After the four Left parties backing the government remained glued to their no-deal-no-talks-with-IAEA stand Monday, Congress leaders said they would continue to work on the communists.

Top Congress leaders, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and party chief Sonia Gandhi, are likely to meet soon to discuss the future of the deal in preparation to the next meeting the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) will have with Left leaders Nov 16.

Informed sources indicated that although External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee would be away in Harbin for trilateral talks between India, Russia and China, other party leaders and ministers would first discuss the issue.

A more serious discussion would take place after Oct 30 when Sonia Gandhi returns from a five-day tour of China. Her political secretary Ahmed Patel would also be away until then.

Party sources admitted that the Congress leadership was 'very disappointed' over the Left's adamant opposition to the India-specific safeguard protocol the government wants to discuss with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

"They (Left) rejected even an emotional appeal from the prime minister," despaired a high-level source who was at the two-hour Monday meeting between UPA and communist leaders.

Mukherjee, who heads the 15-member UPA-Left nuclear committee, reportedly told the communists Monday that Manmohan Singh was keen to see that the negotiations with IAEA did not snap as he (prime minister) had invested his prestige on the deal.

But Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) general secretary Prakash Karat, the driving force behind the opposition to the deal, cut short the argument by saying the prime minister need not treat the nuclear row as a personal issue.

The communists also rejected Mukherjee's suggestions that a special parliament session could be convened to discuss the nuclear deal while talks with the IAEA are held.

"The government was pleading with us to come up with some compromise to let them go ahead with at least informal talks with IAEA. But we decided to stick to our stand," T.J. Chandrachoodan of the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) said.

The four Left parties - the CPI-M, the Communist Party of India (CPI), Forward Bloc and RSP - had met ahead of the meeting with UPA and decided to stand united in their decision to oppose any move to make the nuclear deal operational.

The government's persistent attempts to persuade the Left to see reason also indicates that the ruling party is still keen on pushing the deal, to offset the impression that it is more or less dead.

The US is also quietly throwing its weight behind the government.

White House spokesperson Tony Fratto said Monday that it was too early to express disappointment over the nuclear deal with New Delhi and that Washington remained committed to it.

Congress sources admitted that party leaders were equally taken aback by the volte-face by its own allies.

Although they initially supported the deal, major allies including the Rashtriya Janata Dal, Nationalist Congress Party and DMK later declared that they would prefer to dump it if it led to fresh elections.

Gandhi, the sources said, had not given up.

A Congress leader said: "She has made it clear that the Congress could not dump its allies and go ahead with the deal. We will continue our efforts to find a way out."