Basu rules out mid-term polls

Veteran Marxist leader Jyoti Basu today said there was no possibility of mid-term election in the country in the wake of the stand-off between the Left parties and UPA government over the Indo-US civil nuclear deal.

"There is no question of mid-term polls... The issue will be discussed in Parliament and discussion will be held under a provision which does not entail voting," he told mediapersons after an emergency state secretariat meeting.

At the same time, he said the CPI(M) Politburo had unanimously decided to oppose a move by the Centre to "capitulate" to the US government.

Asked whether the CPI(M) would withdraw support from the Centre on the Indo-US civil nuclear deal, Basu said, "At this stage, I cannot say anything before the Central Committee meets."

"Since the nuclear deal is a major issue, the Central Committee of the party will take a decision on it when it meets on August 22-23," he said and accused the Centre of acting as a "lackey" of the US.

Basu was speaking to mediapersons after attending the emergency meeting of the party's state secretariat which was convened to take stock of the situation before the Central Committee meeting.

Besides Basu, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Left Front chairman Biman Bose were also present.