Don't be hostile: NCP advises Left

Without discounting the Left parties' objections to the Indo-US nuclear agreement, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), a constituent of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), suggested that the Left be measured in its opposition to the agreement as a "hostile situation" was not warranted.

Party spokesman D P Tripathi disputed the Left contention that the Hyde Act would have an impact on the Indian foreign policy, saying that the US legislation had its implications only in the US.

"From the beginning, the Left has been playing the role of an Opposition and this should not lead to a hostile situation," Tripathi told reporters here.

Interestingly, Tripathi was a strong Left supporter in his student days and was expelled by the CPI(M) later. He joined the Congress later. Refuting the Left's arguments on the Hyde Act, he said the Act would do no harm to the country's sovereignty and his party saw no wide implications of the Act on India. "We have read the Hyde Act closely. We could not find any wide implications of the Act on India," he said.