Pranab Mukherjee said India had conveyed to the US that it could not work "within a specific time-frame" to conclude the deal.
NEW DELHI: Downplaying the Left's threat to withdraw support, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee made it clear on Saturday that neither the Congress nor its allies were thinking of elections before 2009 and there was no question of "sacrificing" the government for the Indo-US nuclear deal.
Mukherjee said India had conveyed to the US that it could not work "within a specific time-frame" to conclude the deal.
"I don't think so, because we want to have elections in due time (in 2009)," Mukherjee told a news channel when asked about the possibility of early polls.
While noting that "many unforeseen things happen" in coalition politics, he said "but the things you have referred to are not unforeseen because the position of Left parties is well known to us."
He was responding to the threat issued by the Left parties of withdrawal of support if the government went ahead with operationalising the Indo-US nuclear deal.
"I do not visualise that anybody is thinking of early elections. None of the coalition partners or coalition supporters are talking of early elections," Mukherjee insisted.
"Nobody is talking of holding elections now. There is no talk of sacrificing the government for something," he said when asked if there was a debate in the Congress about whether the nuclear deal is worth sacrificing the government for.
The Left parties, which provide crucial outside support to the government, have lately hardened their stance against operationalisation of the deal, triggering speculation of early polls.
Asked about CPI General Secretary A B Bardhan's letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday threatening to withdraw support, Mukherjee said he had not seen the letter but only read about it in newspapers.
He, however, referred to the letter written by CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat to him wherein the Communist leader had sought early meeting of the UPA-Left committee on the nuclear deal.
"There he (Karat) has simply stated that as per our arrangement we shall have to meet. 'We have read in newspapers that negotiations with IAEA are complete. So, kindly fix a meeting, preferably by March 15'," the External Affairs Minister said.
Downplaying the Left parties' threat, Mukherjee suggested that it was nothing new.
"Generally, I can say that they have all along maintained their position that if you proceed with civilian nuclear cooperation with the US, then they will have to withdraw support. It is decision of their policy-making bodies," he said.
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