Yechury meets PM in rapprochement bid

By Staff
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Google Oneindia News

New Delhi, Aug 13 (UNI) Even as they staged a walkout in the Lok Sabha, the Left parties today gave broad hints that they wanted to end the standoff with the Manmohan Singh government on the Indo-US nuclear deal.

While senior CPI(M) leader and Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechury initiated the rapprochement process with the government with a 20-minute meeting with Dr Singh, CPI General Secretary A B Bardhan said the government would have to at least do ''something'' to put the deal on hold while it renegotiated with the US.

Mr Yechury's talks with the Prime Minister are being viewed as an initial step towards breaking the ice with the government and paving the way for a broader engagement between the UPA and the Left leadership.

Suggesting some alternatives, Mr Bardhan asserted that the government would have to ''renegotiate'' the deal while staying its operationalisation.

CPI(M) Floor Leader in the Lok Sabha Basudeb Acharia said the government would have to address the ''concerns and apprehensions'' of the Left, which he said, did not find mention in the suo motu statement by the Prime Minister in both Houses of Parliament.

''We staged a walkout in the Lok Sabha to demonstrate our protest against the deal, which serves the strategic, political and economic interests of the US and is detrimental to our national interests.'' The CPI(M) Polit Bureau will hold a two-day session here from August 17 to discuss the nuclear pact and its fallout, besides taking up the agenda for its Party Congress in April.

Sources told UNI that both the Congress-led UPA coalition and the Left parties want to end the standoff on the nuclear agreement and could initiate formal talks with each other after August 15.

Meanwhile, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha L K Advani spoke to CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat on the nuclear issue and sought his cooperation for floor management during the debate on the 123 Agreement.

UNI

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