Early Lok Sabha poll not ruled out: Basu

Kolkata, Mar 4 (UNI) Reaffirming the stand of the Left parties against the Indo-US nuclear deal, CPI(M) patriarch Jyoti Basu today said the fall of the UPA Government and early Lok Sabha polls could not be ruled out.

''If they (UPA) chose to ignore our opposition and do not listen to Parliament, then it can happen,'' he told reporters in reply to a question whether the Government would fall in the event of pursuing with the nuke deal ignoring implications of the Hyde Act.

''If it makes an election inevitable, then let it happen,'' he said.

The nonagenarian leader, however, said a consensus on the issue, as suggested by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, was the best possible solution to the problem.

Earlier, speaking at a programme of the state Animal Resources Development department, Mr Basu said given the present situation, he was not sure how long the UPA-Left relationship would continue.

''We are dependent on them and they are on us to resist the BJP.

But I do not know how long it will last,'' he said.

The veteran leader's comment came a day after party's Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechury said the Government should not proceed to operationalise the agreement since it would have serious implications on the country's foreign policy.

CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta had warned that the Left parties were free to decide their own course of action if the Government went ahead in the direction of finalising the deal.

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