Left to submit withdrawal letters to President

New Delhi, Jul 9: Four Left parties - CPI, CPI-M, Forward Bloc and the Revolutionary Socialist Party of India (RSP) - will submit their separate letters to President Pratibha Patil here on Wednesday, July 9, announcing withdrawal of support to the Congress-led UPA Government.

Their meeting with the President is scheduled for 12:00 noon. A senior Left party leader on Tuesday, July 8 said they had to give separate letters as they had sent separate intimations pronouncing support to the UPA in 2004 when the Manmohan Singh Government was formed. "We will give a fifth letter to the President requesting her to ask the Prime Minister to seek a vote of confidence on the floor of the House," he said. Meanwhile, Left parties said that they will urge the President to ask the Congress-led UPA to prove its majority in the Parliament following their withdrawal of support.

Accusing the government of double standards, the Left said the UPA Government has on the one hand decided to convene a meeting with the Left to discuss the US-India civil nuclear cooperation issue, while on the other, the Prime Minister announced in Japan that his government would go ahead on the deal.

Anticipating the withdrawal of support by the Left, the Government has lined up support from the Samajwadi Party to provide it with a parliamentary majority, and hopes to avoid early elections.

The Left had been threatening to pull out their support to the government for quite some time if the latter approached the IAEA for an India-specific safeguards agreement.

ANI