UPA-Left Committee on Indo-US N deal within two days

New Delhi, Sep 4 (UNI) The Joint Committee of the UPA and Left Party members to examine the Indo-US nuclear deal will be constituted within one or two days, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said here today.

''The committee will be announced in a day or two,'' the External Affairs Minister told reporters on the sidelines of a conference of Editors from India, Brazil and South Africa (IBSA) here.

Asked whether Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi would be the members of the committee, Mr Mukerjee said ''let us wait and see...'' The Left parties, who have stepped up opposition to the Indo-US nuclear deal, have already nominated their senior leaders including Prakash Karat, Sitaram Yechury, D Raja, A B Bardhan, Debabrata Biswas and Abani Roy as members of the committee.

Mr Mukherjee has already made it clear that the negotiations with the Left did not mean that further talks on the nuclear deal with the US had been put on hold.

The Congress is also likely to decide shortly on who would be its representatives in the committee which is likely to be headed by the External Affairs Minister.

The Joint Committee will examine the implications of the Hyde Act and the 123 agreement and their impact on India's security, nuclear self-sufficiency, and foreign policy.

UNI