Govt shying away from facing Privilege Motion in LS: CPI(M)

New Delhi, Oct 20 (UNI) After being rebuffed by the UPA government on a Privilege Motion against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for his own ''violation of the commitment'' on the floor of the Lok Sabha over the Indo-US nuclear deal, the CPI(M) today charged it with taking ''refuge'' behind technicalities.

''The government has told us that since the PM is not the member of the Lok Sabha a Privilege Motion cannot be brought against him in the House,'' CPI(M) senior leaders Sitaram Yechury and Basudeb Acharia told newspersons.

The Left leaders said they had now requested the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha to give the ruling as the notice for the Motion had already been served there also.

''Technically, the government may be right, but Dr Singh had made an assurance that he would come back to Parliament after holding negotiations with the IAEA and the NSG,'' said Mr Yechury, party Polit Bureau member and a Rajya Sabha MP.

The CPI(M) leader said the PM had misled the country and Parliament and now a ''strange technicality'' had been brought in to avoid the privilege. Mr Acharia, the party Floor leader in the Lok Sabha, however, made it clear that they would not abandon the issue and raise it again and again in the Lok Sabha.

The Left leaders also made it clear that since the N-Pact had now been sealed and had become a dead letter, there was no point in discussing it on the floor of the House.

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