Left to withdraw support before PM's visit to Japan

New Delhi, Jul 1: The deadline is set! Left parties have finally decided to withdraw support to the UPA government before Manmohan Singh's proposed visit to the G-8 summit.

The decision to pull out is likely to be taken on July 5, a day after the government sends the negotiators to Vienna to complete the pending business with the IAEA, sources told sources. The sources said now it depends on the Prime Minister whether he goes to Japan as the head of a majority or a minority government. The four Left parties are scheduled to meet here on July 4 where they are expected to take a unified decision on their withdrawal of support to the 50-month-old UPA government.

While the CPI top leadership dared Dr Singh to bring forward the Monsoon Session of Parliament if he is so sure about Parliament's consent on the nuclear accord, a CPI(M) senior leader added that the Prime Minister's contention in this issue is just redundant and politically deceitful.

The sources said the government is keen to send a delegation to Vienna on July 4 to approach the Board of Governors of the UN nuclear watchdog to further hold negotiations on India- specific safeguards.

On Dr Singh's readiness to face Parliament on the N-pact, CPI leaders A B Bardhan and Shamim Faizi said if he is so confident he should place the frozen draft with the IAEA in the House. "The House can debate and either reject it or allow the government to go to Vienna. No argument of terming the frozen texts as classified document is acceptable," the CPI leaders observed.

They said anything which could not be shared with the Indian Parliament will always leave the doubt that there is something fishy about it.

"The whole government's approach in this regard is non transparent, secretive and ignoring the parties concerned. Leave apart the people of the country the government is not ready to take even the supporting parties into confidence," they said.

However, they agreed with the Congress' view that the G-8 Summit should not be linked with the nuclear deal.

Mr Rupchand Pal, CPI(M) chief whip in the Lok Sabha, said, "it is very clear as soon as the government confirms that it is going to approach the IAEA, the Left will immediately withdraw the support." On the PM's promise to face Parliament before the operationalisation of the deal, the Marxist leader said the sense of the House is already against the deal. "Earlier, the government gave the argument that it is not constitutionally bound to seek approval of the House for negotiating and executing the international agreement.

"So, therefore the PM's contention is redundant and politically deceitful." Forward Bloc general secretary Debabrata Biswas said while the CPI is holding a meeting of its national executive here on Thursday, his own party will also review the critical situation and take the decision.

"We, all the Left parties, will also hold a joint meeting on July 4 and take an unified decision that as soon as the government goes ahead with the deal we will withdraw support to the government."

UNI