Do not go ahead with Nuclear deal: Left to UPA

New Delhi, Dec 14: The Left parties today asked the UPA Government to respect the 'sense of Parliament' and not proceed with the Indo-US nuclear deal, threatening that they would withdraw support to the ruling coalition if it still insisted on operationalising the accord.

''We don't need to tell the government that we will go to the Rashtrapati Bhavan (if the situation warrants) and the government must respect the sense of the House and demonstrate its commitment to Parliamentary democracy by not going ahead with the deal,'' CPI General Secretary A B Bardhan said at a press conference here.

Mr Bardhan, launching the website of the 20th CPI Congress to be held in Hyderabad in March next year, urged the government to 'halt' the deal, adding that ''the most honourable way for the government to do so is to honour the sense of the House.'' He was asked for his reaction to Forward Bloc's categorical statement today that it would take a unilateral stand on the question of its support to the government if it went ahead with the deal.

Mr Bardhan said the decision to withdraw the support would be taken collectively by all the 4 Left parties--CPI(M), CPI, Forward Bloc and RSP.

''We reiterate that the government must not talk to the Board of Directors of the IAEA on an India-specific nuclear safeguards agreement before the UPA-Left Political Committee forms its opinion on the talks India has held so far with the IAEA,'' he said.

He emphasised the Left was vehemently opposed to the operationalisation of the deal as the US was step by step trying to form a military alliance with India, which was not in the interest of the nation.

Mr Bardhan said the Left parties had accommodated the plea of the UPA Government by allowing it to hold negotiations with the IAEA.

''But the ultimate decision is with us,'' he added.

UNI