July 4: US Birthday

New Delhi, Jul 3: The fate of UPA will be decided on July 4. It is the American Independence day. Is this merely a co-incidence or is it a hint that left is fond of the Americans at heart.

The Left parties will meet on Friday, July 4, to finalise the modalities about their withdrawal of support to the 50-month-old UPA government and ask the latter to apprise them of when the negotiators will approach the Board of Governors of the IAEA to complete its pending business on the Indo-US nuclear deal.

''We will decide on July 4 when and how the letter of withdrawal of support is to be handed over to the President and also demand of the government that it should inform us about when it is approaching the international body to execute the deal,'' CPI General Secretary A B Bardhan told newspersons.

Briefing the media on the deliberations of his party's Central Secretariat meeting today, Mr Bardhan also dismissed as meaningless and baseless the reports about the differences among his party and the CPI(M) over the timing of the withdrawal of support.

Media reports have said that while the CPI(M) wants the withdrawal of support after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's return from three-day G-8 summit meeting in Tokyo, the CPI favours the withdrawal before his departure on July 7.

While Mr Bardhan claimed there are no such differences and that all the four Left parties-- CPI(M), CPI, Forward Bloc and RSP-- will take a unanimous decision CPI(M) senior leader Mohammad Salim also endorsed Mr Bardhan's viewpoint.

He said if the government did not inform them about when the negotiators are to leave for Vienna, they will somehow know about it.''Whenever we will come to know, we will withdraw the support,''he added.

In a specific reply, whether communalism is the biggest enemy in present political scenario as suggested by the Samajwadi Party, the CPI veteran quipped,''I dont agree with this as the rising inflation and high prices of essential commodities have also proved fatal for the common man. But the threats from communal, imperialist and decisive forces are also dangerous.'' To a question by a correspondent whether the government had approached him as suggested in the media that the Left should not withdraw the support during the Prime Minister's visit to abroad he replied in the negative.

On the political fallout of the SP's reported tilt towards the UPA in the context of the Left withdrwing the support, he simply replied, ''Let us wait''.

Earlier, Mr Bardhan flanked by party leaders D Raja and Atal Kumar Anjan, read out a two-page party statement touching upon the galloping inflation, pressing problems of high prices of essential commodities and food, the government failure to check these, the UPA's one-point agenda to push the deal, mismanaged economy, agricultural crisis, the government indulging in deceptive campaign on 123 Agreement and growing unemployment.

It also referred to the government stubborness on the nuclear pact and its impact on country's independent foreign policy and strategic autonomy.

The statement said it was agreed that the outcome of the talks with the IAEA would be reported to the UPA-Left panel.'' To this day the government has not shown it to the panel,''the statement added.

The statement also said, ''Covering up the fact that a majority in Parliament had already opposed the Deal, the PM is talking of bringing it before Parliament after all steps had already been taken to operationalise it. This is not an indication of his desire to consult Parliament, but to present it with a fait accompli.''

UNI