N-deal: Left seeks meeting

Finding the Budget-buoyed Congress pitching for the nuclear deal once again and irritated at the US' unilateral 'deadlines', it is now CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat who has issued his first, and final, deadline to the UPA government to scrap the deal or face elections.

Prakash Karat has written a letter to External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee asking him to convene a meeting of the UPA-Left committee on the nuclear deal by March 15.

In fact, the Congress had planned a meeting of the UPA-Left committee in March as the India-specific safeguards agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is on the verge of finalisation in Vienna.

Despite their willingness to sit across the table with the Left, UPA managers might be unnerved by the considerably more aggressive mien of the Left.

Sources said Pranab will first discuss the IAEA draft with Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Then it will be discussed in the Cabinet before being taken up with the Left.

The CPI(M) wants the government to clearly spell out its roadmap for the nuclear deal with the US in that meeting. "If the government says it wants to move ahead, we will withdraw support. If it says it is scrapping the deal, it can survive the full term till the General Election take place next year. But the government has to clear its position at the meeting. It can't be evasive or just continue killing time," a senior Left leader said.

According to Left sources, Karat is irritated by deadlines given by the US officials. And as the Congress too has raised its voice in favour of the deal after presenting a pro-people Budget, the Left feels it should also step up its Opposition to the deal.

Toughening his stand over the approach of the government, Karat has also decided to mount pressure on the government. He is reluctant to give the government indefinite time to run the government while continuing nuclear negotiations with the US.

Karat met CPI leader D Raja and Forward Bloc leader Debabrat Biswas at A K Gopalan Bhawan this morning to discuss the future strategy. Apart from the IAEA talks, the strategy for the next General Election was also discussed.

Biswas told Karat that the CPI(M) should call for a meeting of all like-minded political parties and categorically spell out that the Left would not shy away from leading the government even if it was a coalition.

"The approach of the Left has been to lend outside support. But this approach won't work. We have to assert and ask for votes to form our own government with the help of third front forces," Biswas told Business Standard after the meeting.