With the Left resuming its shelling of the Manmohan Singh Government — this time over India’s vote against Iran at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board meeting — the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs (CCPA) and the Congress core group today threw their weight behind the government.The CCPA decided to support the IAEA resolution after the Foreign Office explained the circumstances and rationale behind India’s move.Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee said a prior approval of the CCPA could not be obtained as the Indian contingent was unaware that the resolution would come up for vote. ‘‘It was not possible to take the CCPA into confidence as we were not aware of the voting,’’ he told reporters after the CCPA meeting. So today, Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran briefed the CCPA on India’s position,Sources said External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh had taken all members of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) into confidence before deciding on the vote. Sources added the ministry had actually not reckoned for a voting. When it became imminent, Natwar Singh called up the Prime Minister, and explained him the situation. After the Prime Minister gave his go-ahead, he spoke to the CCS members, who endorsed the decision.The Congress core group, headed by Sonia Gandhi, which met ahead of the CCPA meeting, resolved not to bend on the issue and to take the attack of CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat in its stride. This, despite the fact that Karat, in his article in People’s Democracy, has targeted the Prime Minister, holding him ‘‘personally responsible’’ for the scenario. The Prime Minister explained India’s stand at length at the meeting.The party leaders, however, took note of the concluding paragraph of Karat’s article, which calls upon the Indian Government ‘‘to undo the damage’’ done by its vote, at the next meeting of the IAEA board, slated for November. They said, ‘‘It is a sort of threat, but we would engage Left leaders and try to convince them that our stand is in national interest.”Sources said the Prime Minister told the core group that the US as well as EU-3 countries - Britain, France and Germany - were in favour of referring the issue to the UN Security Council. This would have been an escalatory step, prompting Iran to stage a walk-out. India successfully lobbied with them to provide Iran more time.
