Left agrees to discuss on 123-agreement in Parliament

New Delhi, Nov 10: The Left and the UPA today decided to discuss Prime Minister Manmohan Singh"s Monsoon Session statement on the 123-agreement during next week"s Winter Session of the Parliament.

The top leaders of the Left front, CPI (M) General Secretary Prakash Karat and CPI leader A B Bardhan, who met Singh at his official residence here today, agreed to hold the discussion at the beginning of the session, beginning on November 15.

UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi was also present at Saturday"s meeting.

On August 13, Manmohan Singh had assured the Lok Sabha that the civil nuclear cooperation agreement with the US would completely adhere to July 18, 2005 pact and March 2, 2006 separation plan.

“Let me hence reiterate once again that a decision to undertake a future nuclear test would be our sovereign decision, one that rests solely with the Government. There is nothing in the Agreement that would tie the hands of a future Government or legally constrain its options to protect India"s security and defence needs," the Prime Minister had then said to the Lok Sabha.

However, the opposition BJP has alleged that the 123-agreement in its present form affects India"s right to conduct future nuclear test, and has demanded a renegotiation of the deal.

During today"s meeting between Prime Minister and the Left leaders it was also decided that the next meeting of the UPA- Left"s special committee be convened as soon as possible.

The 15-member panel of the UPA-Left committee on the Indo-US nuclear deal, which was scheduled to meet for the sixth time on November 16, was postponed in the wake of the commencement of the winter session of Parliament.

The special committee convened by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee was formed to resolve disagreements between the two sides over the nuclear deal.

ANI>