Left joins BJP, hope wanes for govt

NUCLEAR DEAL CLOUD

Parliament adjourned over US remark.

There was no evidence that the Left parties had relented in their opposition to the Indo-US civil nuclear agreement as they joined the BJP in preventing Parliament from functioning.

However, parliamentary managers of the government grasped at straws in the wind, arguing that the Left did not join the BJP in the well of the House to protest against the agreement and made it clear that it would not join the BJP in moving a privilege notice against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

That the Left just demanded that the prime minister come to the House and clarify various aspects of the agreement also gave the government hope.

However, following a plan finalised in advance, the Left parties walked out when Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee made a statement to clarify a comment by a White House spokesman that if India conducted a nuclear test, the deal would be off.

Mukherjee said India had the sovereign right to test and would do so if it was necessary in national interest. "The only restraint is our voluntary unilateral moratorium on nuclear testing, declared by the previous government and being continued by the successor government. There is nothing in the bilateral agreement that will tie the hands of a future government or legally constrain its options. A decision to undertake a future nuclear test will be India's sovereign decision, resting solely with the government of India", he said.

He said the bilateral agreement did not mention testing at all. "The bilateral cooperation agreement contains elaborate provisions in Articles 5 and 14 to ensure continuous operation of India's reactors. These include fuel supply assurances, the right to take corrective measures and a strategic fuel reserve for the lifetime of India's reactors in case of cessation of cooperation".

But this cut no ice with the Left parties. Top CPI(M) sources said the party still had doubts about the protection of India's sovereign rights. It was now clear that India's rights were not protected, said a Left source. "We are against nuclear tests, but we cannot support the fact that our country will not have the right to conduct the tests if it wants to," he added.

The Congress, on its part, said it had no plan and everything depended on the CPI(M) Politburo meeting. "Talk to us after the Politburo meeting," a tense party leader told reporters.

However, other UPA allies predicted the countdown to general elections had begun. "A CPI leader told me to get ready to hit the road," a Cabinet minister said, predicting that general elections ahead of schedule were unavoidable.

CPI leader in Parliament Gurudas Dasgupta said there was a lot of difference in the statements of the prime minister and the US and the government needed to clarify. "We want to know if there is any unwritten understanding," he said.