CPI (M) on Wednesday distanced itself from the statement made by Politburo member M K Pandhe that Samajwadi Party may lose Muslim support if it goes with the government on the Indo-US nuclear deal, saying his remarks were not the views of the party.This was stated by Party General Secretary Prakash Karat barely an hour after his meeting with Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav in New Delhi, who is understood to have raised the issue."Remarks made by M K Pandhe, member, Politburo, on the nuclear deal issue on June 23 are not the views of the party," Karat said in the statement.Pandhe, also the CITU chief, has earlier cautioned Yadav that his party might lose the support of Muslims if it decides to go with the UPA on the issue.He asked Yadav to "think twice" before deciding to support the deal as an overwhelming number of Muslims were against the agreement.The remarks did no go down well with Samajwadi Party, whose leader yesterday said it knew about Muslims more than anybody else.With his remarks inviting criticism, Pandhe had issued a clarification, saying he did not want to give a "communal angle" to the issue."Actually, I never wanted to criticise Mulayam Singh or the socialist parties.Our party considers SP as a secular party. We shared same concerns with them in many issues," he had said.
