The prime minister was referring to the Left parties' refusal to allow the UPA government to pursue negotiations with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the Nuclear Suppliers' Group (NSG) before operationalising the Indo-US civil nuclear agreement.
"They wanted a veto over every single step of negotiations which is not acceptable. They wanted me to behave as their bonded slave," he said while replying to the two-day debate on the trust vote in the Lok Sabha where the UPA government emerged victorious against a BJP-UNPA-BSP combine.
Speaking of his "uneasy" relationship with the Left parties in the last few months, Singh said his former allies did not wait for his government to complete negotiations with the international bodies for operationalising the Indo-US nuclear agreement after which he had promised to bring the agreement before Parliament.
While naming CPM General Secretary Prakash Karat for making "miscalculations" (on defeating the UPA), Singh thanked CPM veterans Harkishen Singh Surjeet and Jyoti Basu for "their guidance and support".
Basu also made digs at BJP leader L K Advani asking him to "do self-introspection".
The prime minister also pointed out the inner-contradictions of the new alliance