123 Agreement: Left unrelenting, to corner govt in Parliament
New Delhi, Aug 9 (UNI) Undeterred by the government's rejection of their plea to renegotiate the 123 agreement to operationalise the Indo-US nuclear deal, the Left parties today asserted that they would not budge from their stand and corner the Government on the ''unequal deal'' in the Monsoon session of Parliament, commencing tomorrow.
The CPI(M), CPI and Forward Bloc, however, did not buy the BJP's arguement to refer the pact to the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC), saying the safforn party's demand was ''irrelevant'' as the deal does not involve investigations.
While the CPI(M) floor leaders in the Lok Sabha Basudeb Acharia and Mohammad Salim asserted that the Left parties would process in accordance with their stated position, the CPI Parliamentary Party Leader in the Lok Sabha Gurudas Dasgupta and Forward Bloc Rajya Sabha MP Debbrat Biswas said they would do ''something'' consistent with their stand on the issue.
The Left parties, including the RSP, will hold a joint meeting tomorrow to formalise their joint strategy on the 123 Agreement and other pressing issues to be taken up in during the 23-day Monsoon Session.
At a press conference at the party headquarters here -- the Ajoy Bhawan, CPI floor leaders in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha said their party would oppose the nuke deal ''lock, stock and barrel''.
On persistent queries how the Left would propose to oppose the deal after the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's firm no to them, Mr Dasgupta said, ''In a multi-party democracy the Prime Minister has not got the right to say the final word.'' Mr Dasgupta asked the Congress to explain to the nation why it had chosen to ''abandon NAM and succumbed to US imperalism''.
On why the Left was not seeking debate on the issue under Rule 184, which entails voting, the CPI leader said it was for the government to decide under which Rule it wanted discussion to be held.
On the BJP's demand for referring the issue to the JPC, Mr Dasgupta said, ''This is irrelevant and illogical as the deal does not involve investigations...The deal is thoroughly anti-India.'' Mr Dasgupta did not elaborate on ''something'', which the Left party wanted to demonstrate in Parliament. ''Our party deputy leader in the Lok Sabha C K Chandrappan has already moved a notice seeking a Constitution amendment, whereby any international and even some bilateral treaties are to be ratified by Parliament.'' On the Prime Minister's telephonic conversation with him and other Left leaders on the nuke deal, party's Rajya Sabha MP D Raja said the Dr Singh wanted to know the Left's stand on the issue.
''We told him that the Left parties cannot support the 123 Agreement and that the government should not proceed with operationalising it as they want a Constitution amendment to empower only Parliament to ratify international and bilateral treaties,'' Mr Raja said.
The CPI leaders said they would raise the issues like price rise, the ''almost collpase'' of the PDS, immediate introduction of Lok Pal Bill, privatisation of mines, the review of SEZs, 33 per cent reservation for women, FDI in retail and action on the Srikrishna Commission Report on Mumbai riots in 1993 in Parliament.
Mr Biswas said the Left parties would also demand the government to enquire into shortcomings in the implementation of National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.
UNI