Govt should not proceed with IAEA agreement: Left parties

New Delhi, Jun 18 (UNI) Left parties today made it clear that the UPA government should not proceed to seek approval of the text of the India-specific safeguards agreement from the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

A joint statement issued after the meeting of the four Left parties this evening said as far as the Left parties were concerned, they have not been able to form an opinion on the text of the safeguards agreement.

''Neither has the UPA-Left committee on the Indo-US nuclear deal arrived at its findings,'' the statement added.

The statement has been signed by the General Secretaries of CPM Prakash Karat, CPI A B Bardhan, Forward Bloc Debvrat Biswas and RSP T Chandrachoodan.

Leaders of the Left parties met here at the CPM headquarters, AK Gopalan Bhawan, to review the situation after the meeting of the UPA-Left panel on the nuclear deal, scheduled for today, was postponed till June 25 owing to the panel convenor External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee's pre-occupation with the visit of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

UNI KSA ARB RP RAI1828