Pranab cautions Left against repeating mistakes of 77, 88

New Delhi, Jul 21 (UNI) External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukerjee today cautioned the Left Parties not to repeat the ''mistakes of 1977 and 1988 siding with the BJP'' while 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.

Participating in the debate on the confidence motion, he said 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 deal it would help in enhancing this power generation capacity to 4.70 lakh MW by 2030.

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