Left refuses to soften stand on Indo-US nuke deal

New Delhi, Juloy 28 (UNI) Seeking to remove the apprehension that they had given up their hard stand on the Indo-US nuclear deal, the Left parties today made it clear that the sense of Parliament has to be clearly spelt out in the government's thinking on the accord which could not be done simply through a suo motu statement.

Their remarks assume significance in the wake of reports that they are dithering on the Parliamentary resolution on the deal and there are differences within the Left parties over the agreement.

The leaders of CPI(M), CPI, Foward Bloc and the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) issued a joint statement, saying the government must realise that this was an issue of vital national interest.

The signatories to the statement included Mr Prakash Karat (CPI-M), Mr A B Bardhan (CPI), Mr Debabrata Biswas (Foward Bloc) and Mr Abani Roy (RSP).

UNI KSA AT HS1740