Congress sources said the UPA-Left meeting scheduled for June 25 could be postponed to June 28 to evolve a consensus on the issue.
A section of the Congress had pinned its hopes on the fact that the Left might withdraw support but it would not vote against the government as that would signal that the Left had joined hands with the BJP to pull down the government. They had hoped that the Left might be persuaded to abstain from voting, providing the government majority seats in a reduced number of votes against the BJP-led NDA.
On the basis of this calculation, the Congress had hoped that it would be able to run a minority government for the next six or so months and thus avoid early elections.
Pouring cold water on this ambitious plan of the Congress, CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat today said that once the Left withdrew its support it would have no responsibility to rescue the government in a vote of no-confidence. Veteran CPI(M) leader Jyoti Basu was clearer in Kolkata when he said that if there was a vote of no-confidence, the Left would vote against it.
The Left's calculation is: if it abstains from voting and the government wins the trust vote in Parliament, then it can go ahead with the nuclear deal with more confidence. And once a trust vote is taken, there is no constitutional provision to go for another one in the same session of Parliament.
Although the Left has hardened its stand, it is still unable to convince the UPA allies to go against the Congress. A senior Left leader indicated that although Karat and CPI(M) Politburo leader Sitaram Yechury were talking to the allies, it was unlikely that they would come and join hands with the Left. Karat had a meeting with Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar this morning and explained their stand to him.
Meanwhile, the Congress has also not shown any sign of compromising on its intention of going ahead with the nuclear deal. Party spokesperson Shakeel Ahmed today said, "The party will work in the national interest and we think that the Indo-US nuclear deal is in national interest. We are trying to take the Left and all other allies along with us." He also said that on the question of going ahead with the deal, there is unanimity in the party. "The Congress president and the party is giving full support to the PM on this issue," he added, rubbishing notions that fearful of equivocation from the Congress on the nuclear agreement, the PM had offered to resign.
In his meeting with Karat today, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee reportedly reiterated that it was essential for the government to go to the IAEA, and that the government would come back again to the Left after approaching the IAEA. However, sources said Karat refused to buy this argument.
