Left to oppose change in goal-post of Nuke deal

New Delhi, Dec 8: The CPI(M) today asked the Manmohan Singh-led UPA government to reassure the nation that it would not allow any change in the goal-post of the India-US nuke deal even as US administration has said the pact would meet its commitments to India.

''If our concerns and apprehensions still find place in the final draft, we will again take up the matter with Dr Manmohan Singh and raise it on the floor of Parliament,'' CPI(M) Floor leaders Basudeb Acharia and Salim Mohammad told newspersons.

Seeking to address Indian apprehension on the deal, US Under Secretary for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns said yesterday that he anticipated a successful and supportive bill that will be ''within the parameters of July 18 and March 2 statements''.

At a press conference today, the Left leaders said the CPI(M) and other Left parties have been holding that the deal might adversely affect autonomy and independent decision-making of the country's nuclear establishment. The US might also put pressure on India regarding some foreign policy issues including Iran's nuclear programme.

Referring to the Joint Statement of India and the US on the deal, the CPI(M) leaders said it would be prudent to see the final draft and ensure that ''our government has lived up to its assurances''.

They also answered questions relating to the possibility of the re-emergence of the Third Front, the Cabinet decision to bring in the much awaited tribal bills in Parliament and the intellectuals' apprehensions on the Singur project in West Bengal.

In response to a query on the AIADMK leader Jayalalithaa meeting Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav and the possibility of the re-emergence of the Third Front, they saids THird On the Third front, they said it was not important who met whom ahead of the assembly polls, the real Third Front could come up on the basis of common ideology and mass movements on the people's issues.

On the BSP and the BJP's demand for imposition of the President's Rule in Uttar Pradesh, Mr Salim quipped, ''My party does not support this thesis as it is anti-democratic and adversly affects the centre-state relations and our federal structure.'' Welcoming the Cabinet decision on bringing in the Tribal Rights Bill in the current session of Parliament, Mr Acharia said they were happy that the government had agreed to incorporate three amendments in the bill ''as we wanted''.

On the opposition by eminent intellectuals and writers including Ms Arundhati Roy to the Singur industrial project in West Bengal ''at the cost of the farmers'', the Left leaders said it was unfortunate that some individuals were becoming the victims of ''misinformation''.

''But still there is much scope for the West Bengal government to remove such apprehensions and misleading information.''

UNI

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