First meeting of Hyde Act panel on September 11

The first meeting of the UPA-Left committee on the nuclear deal will be held on September 11. CPI(M) Politburo leader Sitaram Yechury said the decision had been arrived at after consultations.

It is clear that though the two sides have agreed to sit across the table, their approach to the talks is divergent. While the government is keen to bring out the committee's report quickly, the Left plans to stretch the meetings for as long as possible.

According to a PMO official, the government was looking forward to hold "at least two meetings" between September 10-13 as External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, the convenor of the 15-member committee, would be leaving for a series of foreign tours from September 13.

Mukherjee will begin a tour of some South-East Asian countries from September 13. He will be back after September 19 but will leave for the US for a 12-day visit from September 22. After that, as the festival season starts, the government feels it will be difficult to get all the members to attend the meetings for several weeks.

The names of the UPA representatives on the committee is a clear signal that it won't bow to Left pressure. Finance Minister P Chidambaram, Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal and Minister of State in the PMO, Prithviraj Chavan, have been branded in the Left circles as strong supporters of the deal.

According to a CPI(M) leader, "The inclusion of these ministers, especially Chidambaram, has not taken us by surprise. We are headed for a tough fight. We know Kapil Sibal was the chief guest at the July 4 celebrations held by the US Ambassador."

Also, CPI (M) Politburo member Prakash Karat has sent letters to his party MPs on why they are opposing this nuclear deal and the way they should campaign against it.

Government managers are under no illusion that the matter will be resolved quickly. As the government plans to approach the IAEA in November, it wants the committee's endorsement before that.

The government has decided to initially consult Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon, National Security Advisor M K Narayanan and Atomic Energy Commission Chief Anil Kakodkar to help the committee reach a decision.

Meanwhile, the opposition's demand for a JPC on the Indo-Us nuclear deal led to frequent adjournments and in both Houses of Parliament for the third day in a row. An interesting development was the distance that the Samajwadi Party decided to maintain from the protest.