Left note shows truce talks with UPA may fail

The talks between the UPA and the Left parties on the Indo-US civil nuclear agreement are flagging. In their latest "political note" to the UPA government ahead of tomorrow's joint meeting, the four Left parties have sought a status report on the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline and charged the government with deviating from the common minimum programme on foreign policy.

There is no effort to stem the tide of criticism and finger-pointing. The Left leaders say with both sides sticking to their stands, there seems little point in keeping the dialogue going.

The note asks the UPA leadership some blunt questions. For example, one question reads: "Does this government want to work for a multipolar world or does it want to work on behalf of the US?"

Unlike the previous notes on the Hyde Act and the 123 Agreement, this one is in the form of a questionnaire. According to sources in the Left, since discussions on the Hyde Act and the 123 Agreement are over, pending issues have been raised at one go as they are in a hurry to wrap up the talks before the festival holidays start.

"There is one more meeting scheduled between us. I think this will be the last meeting because both sides are sticking to their stands. We don't see any reason to discuss these issues further," said a top CPI(M) leader. The Left plans to put its differences on record in the tomorrow's meeting and later bring out a series of pamphlets on the basis of these discussions.

The "political note" says the UPA government has "already deviated from the commitments of the common minimum programme."There are also references to India's "silence" on issues like Palestine and death sentence to Saddam Hussain.