Govt should take cue from US official: Left

By Staff
|
Google Oneindia News

New Delhi, Oct 1 (UNI) The Left parties, emboldened by their pressure pertaining to the Indo-US nuclear deal "working" on the US administration, today asked the UPA government to take a cue from observations of a senior US official in this regard.

Senior leaders of the CPI(M), CPI and RSP told UNI that the Manmohan Singh government should not take any further step including negotiations with the IAEA for India-specific safeguards till the UPA-Left Political Panel completes its task.

They observed that the UPA-Left Panel October 5 and 14 meetings have become all the more " politically important," adding that the government should not demonstrate "any hurry" in operationalising the deal.

Left leaders' comments came a day after the US Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia and Central Asian Affairs Richard Boucher reported statement," there is no timeline for operationalising the nuclear deal" and that" We will deal with it in terms of the opportunities that are there when India is ready to move forward." Earlier, the US administration was desperately trying to get the deal operationalised before Mr George Bush became a lame duck President by January next year.

Besides, CPI(M) patriarch Jyoti Basu has said in Kolkata, where the Polit Bureau and the Central Committee deliberations come to an end today, that he hoped that the present crisis over the deal could be finally overcome.

CPI(M) Polit Bureau member M K Pandhe told UNI on phone from Kolkata that the government should make an announcement at the Panel's October five meeting that it had" postponed" the operationalising of the deal.

Mr Pandhe stressed," we are firm on our position. While Indian government insist that the deal will be operationalised only when the US Congress passes the law, but for us it is done the moment the government starts negotiations with the IAEA on India specific safeguards." He made it clear that both the government's move to start the negotiations with the IAEA and hold discussions under the banner of the UPA-Left Political Panel could not go together simultaneously.

CPI national Secretary Shamim Faizi said the Manmohan Singh government should take a cue from the observations made by a senior official of the US administration and should desist from further operationalising of the deal.

Endorsing Mr Pandhe's viewpoint, Mr Faizi said the Left had been insisting that the government should not take any further step including negotiations with the IAEA for India for specific safeguards till the Panel completes its work.

" If the government makes such an assurance the Left talks with the government in future meetings can result into amicable solution," the CPI leader said adding that "the future meetings of the Panel are very important as the differences between the two sides are essentially political and not legal or technical." RSP leader and Rajya Sabha MP Abani Roy said the changed position of the US could help ease the standoff between the government and the Left.

Mr Roy urged the government not to ignore the majority opinion of Parliament on the issue and instead should take them all into confidence on the deal.

" There is no hurry for the government to implement the deal," he said.

UNI

For Daily Alerts
Get Instant News Updates
Enable
x
Notification Settings X
Time Settings
Done
Clear Notification X
Do you want to clear all the notifications from your inbox?
Settings X
X