N-deal: Left hopeful of positive results

New Delhi, Oct 13: A day after the government's strong indications to halt negotiations on the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal, the Left parties today hoped that the UPA-Left Panel's crucial October 22 meeting will yield ''positive results.'' The CPI, CPI (M) and Forward Bloc said they hoped that the government would take the matter to its logical conclusion at the meeting.

''The government is expected to spell out its concrete position now at a time when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress Chief Sonia Gandhi have signalled that they would not sacrifice the government for the sake of the nuke accord and ruled out the possibility of mid-term polls,'' they said.

CPI leaders A B Bardhan and Shamim Faizi said the frank admission by the Prime Minister and the UPA Chairperson regarding the differences on the deal ''is a welcome step'', but it should be taken to its logical conclusion by putting the deal on the backburner.

The meeting on October 22 should be carried forward, the CPI leaders said and asserted that no step to operationalise the deal should be taken until the Panel came to some conclusion.

CPI(M) senior leaders M K Pandhe and Mohammad Salim hoped that the government would spell out to the Left parties in concrete terms its approach on the deal at the meet.

However, Forward Bloc General Secretary Debbrata Biswas stressed that the meeting ''is very crucial'' as the government would come out with its response to the issues the Left parties had so far raised during the Panel's last four sittings.

''The meeting also assumes significance as the government has yet to make an announcement on the 'scrapping' of the deal,'' Mr Biswas added.

UNI