Left remains unrelenting, CPM Polit Bureau to meet tomorrow

New Delhi, Aug 16 (UNI) Amid reports from Washington stating that the US reserves the right to snap the nuclear deal in the event of nuclear tests by New Delhi, the Left parties today remained unrelenting in their opposition to the pact and asserted there was no question of doing so either.

With Prime Minister Manmohan Singh choosing not to touch the sensitive issue during his Independence Day address yesterday, top leadership of the Left parties, meeting here tomorrow, are not likely to change their stated position on the deal.

The issue continued to widen the rift between the UPA and the communists and the media reports connecting the deal with nuclear tests by India has added to the complication.

Amid these developments, CPI General Secretary A B Bardhan is also reported to have turned down the Prime Minister's invitation on Tuesday to discuss the issue.

The CPI(M) is holding the two-day party Polit Bureau meet beginning tomorrow while the CPI has decided to convene the party's Central Secretariat on the same dates.

Welcoming the Prime Minister skipping the issue in his address from the ramparts of the Red Fort, the CPI(M) said it was good in the way that ''the ruling party was not describing the pact as historic, any more.'' ''If the deal is really path-breaking and historic, then what stopped the Prime Minister to mention it on a historic occasion,'' remarked Mr Mohammad Salim, party's Deputy leader in the Lok Sabha.

Party Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechury has already welcomed Dr Singh skipping the issue in his speech.

Besides the nuclear deal, the 17-member Polit Bureau, is also expected to finalise details on the party Congress in April and discuss the UPA-Left relations and organisational matters.

Veteran leftists Harkishen Singh Surjeet and Jyoti Basu are also expected to attend the meeting.

Senior CPM leader Sitaram Yechury has said the Prime Minister not mentioning the issue in his Independency Day address signifies that the government was ''engaged and keen to hold discussions over the issue''.

''It is also good that the government realised that the issue should be discussed first in Parliament,'' Mr Yechury added.

On media reports that the majority Congress leaders were of the view that the Prime Minister's statement daring the Left parties to withdraw support escalated the crisis, Mr Salim said, ''The Left's response will depend on whether the Congress chooses a hot pursuit by proceeding to operationalise the deal without addressing our concerns or resolving them through discussions.'' Reacting to Prime Minister's address, CPI National Secretary Shamim Faizi said, ''It is a good gesture as the objections raised by the Left are yet to be addressed.'' Mr Faizi, editor of party weekly New Age, said the Left parties from the very beginning have been maintaining that the nuclear deal should not be seen in isolation.

''Many more things have happened that calls for reivew of the performance of the UPA government. Also there is an urgent need for redefining the UPA-Left relations,'' he said.

The senior communist clarified that Mr Bardhan turned down the Prime Minister's invitation to talk over the issue as it would not have yielded any result. ''What is the use of such discussions when Dr Singh told him that the deal cannot be renegotiated,'' he asked.

Referring to the widening rift between the two allies, the Left leaders said they would further isolate the Congress in Parliament on the nuclear deal.

''If the government remains adamant not to see reason, we will also prove that the government is in minority,'' Mr Salim asserted.

The Left leaders, however, were emphatic that the growing rift between the ruling coalition and the supporting Left parties would not by any means benefit the BJP.

UNI