Don't repeat mistakes of 1977-88: Pranab to Left

New Delhi, Jul 21: Don't repeat the "mistakes of 1977 and 1988 siding with the BJP'' is the note of caution which External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukerjee gave to the Left Parties prior to voting on the confidence motion of the UPA government in the Lok Sabha and lauded the ''visionary approach'' of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for signing the Indo-US nuclear deal. Defending the decision of signing the Indo-US nuclear pact, Mr Mukherjee said it was a decision taken after consulting all the constituents in the Government.

While participating in the debate on the confidence motion, Pranab said that the UPA Government had not been reduced to a minority in the Lok Sabha following the withdrawal of support by the Left parties. He said despite all claims the UPA Government still enjoys the support of 273 members in the House. Though the strength of the Lok Sabha is 543, the effective strength of the house is 541, he added.

He said the present electricity generation in the country is to the tune of 1.45 lakh Mega Watts (MW) and it is expected with the commissioning of the Indo-US civil nuclear deal it would help in enhancing this power generation capacity to 4.70 MW by 2030. He also asked the Left parties that, is not showing the IAEA draft to the UPA-Left co-ordination committee, a valid reason to bring down the government.

UNI