Left to withdraw support if UPA went ahead with nuke deal

Bhubaneswar, Oct 10 (UNI) The Left would withdraw support to the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre if the government went a step further in the Indo-US nuclear deal, CPI(M) Polit Bureau member K Varadarajan said here today.

Mr Varadarajan, who was here to participate in the party state secretariat meeting, told newspersons that if a mid-term election was held in the country, Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would be held responsible for it.

He said the Left did not want to impose a mid-term election on the country but there was no alternative.

The Left would be compelled to withdraw support to maintain the sovereignty of the country as they felt that if the nuclear deal was implemented, it would mortgage the country's nuclear programme with the US.

The Left had advised the UPA government not to sign such a deal but the Congress did not accept it and went ahead, he alleged.

The CPI(M) leader accused the Congress of not implementing the Common Minimum Programme (CMP).

The CPI(M) leader said though the CMP clearly mentioned to maintain the independence of the nuclear programme, the UPA government signed the nuclear deal violating the provisions of the CMP.

Mr Varadarajan said the Congress, a major partner of the alliance government, was violating the mutual agreements one after another, but the Left would not tolerate it any further.

He indicated that if a mid-term election was held, the Left along with other secular parties might form an alliance.

UNI