Left parties ask UPA to make stand clear on Indo-US nuke deal

Bhopal, Oct 21 (UNI) Left parties today asked the UPA to make its stand firmly clear on the Indo-US nuclear deal at the UPA-Left Coordination Committee's crucial meet tomorrow and hoped that the findings of the Panel would also be made known.

The 15-member Political Committee, headed by Government chief negotiator and External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, is scheduled to be held at 1600 hrs at his 13, Talkatora official residence.

CPI General Secretary A B Bardhan told UNI that as far as the Left was concerned, it wanted the Government to state its official position on the deal and address the concerns and objections raised to the 123 Agreement.

Mr Bardhan reminded that the political panel was set up to find a solution to the Left's objections and concerns.

'' We will ask the Government whether a solution has been found and what are the findings of the Political Committee. The outcome will therefore, depend on what the UPA representatives say on the subject.'' Meanwhile, Forward Bloc General Secretary Debabrata Biswas said, ''we will wait for the Government's official position at the meeting''.

Notably, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had asserted last week that his was not ''a one issue government'' and that failure to push the deal would be ''disappointing'', but would not signal ''the end of life.'' Dr Singh, however, later said the dialogue process was continuing with the Left allies to work out a ''meaningful consensus'' to the issue and that he had not given up hope on finding a solution.

Meanwhile, veteran CPI Jyoti Basu said, '' there were serious differences on the nuclear deal and the situation had come to such a path that the UPA government was about to fall''.

He said he had heard that further proceedings on the deal would not be initiated and that it was not taking place now.

He added that the Left wanted the Government to run for another one and a half years because they did not not want a mid-term election.

He expressed happiness that the Prime Minister and the Congress President had accepted the Left's views.

UNI