Left, UPA talk the talk on 123

Or what really goes on in the committee meetings.

It is a 15-member committee. But when it comes to hard debate, the United Progressive Alliance-Left committee on the Indo-US civil nuclear agreement is pretty much reduced to the activities of six men.

Pranab Mukherjee, P Chidambaram and Kapil Sibal from the UPA and Prakash Karat, A B Bardhan and Sitaram Yechuri from the Left "" these are the people who have done the maximum talking at the last five committee meetings.

The others? They either don't get a chance to get a word in edgeways or prefer to play the patient listener. Like the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP)'s representative Chandrachuran "" he's spoken for all of 10 minutes during the cumulative eight hours or so spent by the committee over five meetings. His UPA counterpart is Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, who is also taciturn in the meetings.

Defence Minister AK Antony doesn't talk much anyway; he is more active taking down notes of the proceedings. His detractors in the Left say the notebook is used for special reports to 10, Janpath.

Water Resources Minister Saifuddin Soz has spoken just twice "" once to brief the group about hydro power and then on October 9, when the dates for the next meeting were discussed. The lone Muslim face in the group reminded members about the possible schedule of Id.

Railway Minister Lalu Prasad, according to insiders, is not particularly interested in the nitty-gritty of the technical and legal issues. He understands simple politics "" that the UPA government should not go "" and tries to introduce this thought whenever possible.

Several times, when the two sides began arguing about the technicalities of reprocessing and other such complexities, Prasad cut them short.

"Forget all this. Just assure us that you (the Left) will not withdraw support from the government," he said. As one senior minister said of Prasad: "He is always engaged in some drama. But it helps to ease the tension in the room."

At every meeting, Mukherjee delivers an "inaugural address" "" a sort of opening statement. This sets the tone of the meeting. Karat takes the cue and puts forward the initial reply of the Left.

Then as the Hyde Act and its implication on the 123 Agreement, as the agreement is called after the relevant section of the US Atomic Energy Act, come up for discussion, it is Chidambaram and Sibal who take centre-stage in arguing the complex legal aspects of the matter. The duo's efforts to defend the deal has earned them the sobriquet of "American lawyers" in the Left camp.

With no tangible solution in sight, the UPA and the Left leaders also spend time talking about other issues. For example: Before the last meeting started, the members congratulated Sharad Pawar on the victory of the Indian cricket team and discussed its performance at length.

Anxious to prevent the committee "" that already has the BJP seeing red "" from being pinned with an "official" tag, the UPA leadership at first decided to hold the meetings at Mukherjee's residence. But such was the chaos created by the media that security agencies advised a change of venue and discussions were shifted to South Block.

Both sides claim that till date, there hasn't been any major showdown in meeting. Leaders express their viewpoints politely but firmly.

While the two sides continue to attack each other in public forums, there is no reference to these attacks in the internal meeting. For instance, the Left was silent on Sonia Gandhi's remarks in Jhajjar where she said, "Those who are against the deal are against peace and the development of the country."

This is a discussion the conclusion of which had been scripted even before the committee met for the first time. A B Bardhan spelt out the theme when he said: "We have agreed to disagree."

The biggest hurdle, however, is to find a date convenient to all 15 members for a meeting in Delhi. Over a span of six weeks, only five such dates have been found.