Left serves privilege notices against PM

New Delhi, Oct 17 (UNI)Communist parties have given notices of privilege motion against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for backing out from assurances he had given to both Houses of Parliament on the Indo-US civil nuclear agreement, saying they will raise the issue on Monday.

CPI(M) and CPI today said they had sent notices to Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee and Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari yesterday charging the Prime Minister with having commited breach of Parliament by signing the nuke deal without taking it into confidence.

They pointed out that it was Dr Singh who had given assurances on the floor of both Houses of Parliament that he would come back to them before signing the agreement with the United States.

But instead the Prime Minister chose to go to the U S and the deal was signed and sealed without taking Parliament into confidence as had been promised by him, Mr Sitaram Yechuri and Mr Gurudas Dasgupta told reporters.

"We are now waiting for the ruling of the Speaker....hopefully it should not take much time as this is a serious matter," CPI(M) floor leader in Lok Sabha Basudeb Acharia told UNI.

Mr Yechury recalled that Dr Singh is on record having said that "We(Left) must allow the government to proceed with negotiations with IAEA and NSG and that he(PM) will not operationalise the deal without coming back to the House." "As you know that the deal has been done, it amounts to a serious breach of privilege of Parliament," Mr Yechury said, adding there is now no ground for further discussion on the issue as the government has "violated the understanding and majority view in Parliament".

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