DMK, Lalu back nuke deal; Left threatens pullout

“Government comes and goes. Nuclear power is a requirement and assets must be created for our next generation,” he told reporters in New Delhi.

Seeking to allay apprehensions of Left allies, Prasad said by signing the deal with the US, ‘we are not becoming a slave of America’. Contending that the Left has right to express their views, he said, “I am hopeful the deal will come through and if not, it will be unfortunate for the country.”

To a question, he said, “Anyway we all are preparing for elections.” When asked whether the deal will be an election issue, he said, “The controversy has been raised unnecessarily.”

LEFT THREATENS AGAIN

The CPI (M) warned that the Left parties would review their support to it if the government goes ahead with the deal.

“They have time till June 25 (the next meeting of the UPA-Left Committee) and they have to make up their mind by then. If they go ahead, we will have to reconsider our support,” CPI (M) Politburo member Sitaram Yechury said.

In that case, Left would have no option but to face the situation and “no amount of talks will help,” he said.

With over 60 members in the Lok Sabha, the Left parties provide crucial outside support to the Congress-led UPA government, which will face difficulties in a trial of strength if the Left withdraws support.

Another Left leader said the government might have to take into account early polls if it wanted to go ahead with the India-specific safeguards agreement.

In the past few days, several rounds of meetings have been held between top Left and UPA leaders. These include two meetings between CPI (M) General Secretary Prakash Karat and External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and one between Yechury and UPA Chairperson and Congress President Sonia Gandhi.

At these meetings, the government tried to persuade its outside supporters to allow it to seal the safeguards agreement during the upcoming meeting of the IAEA Board of Governors, a plea, which was rejected by the Left leaders.

The ninth round of meeting of the UPA-Left Committee was deferred on Wednesday till June 25, that Congress sources say is likely to be the final one.

DMK BACKS CONGRESS

Pledging its support for the implementation of the Indo-US nuclear deal, the DMK, a key constituent of the ruling UPA, on Thursday said it would stand by the Congress on the issue.

DMK Spokesperson T K S Elangovan said that his party MP and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi’s daughter Kanimozhi had already made this point clear in the Rajya Sabha recently.

“We will support the Congress on the issue,” he said. Asked whether the implementation of the deal would cause a split between the Left parties and the Congress, he said Karunanidhi had already stated that any such divisions between the UPA and the Left would only pave the way for ‘communal forces like the BJP’.

The comments by the DMK spokesperson came amidst speculations that the Congress plans to go ahead with the implementation of the deal despite strong opposition from the Left.

DECISION WILL BE TAKEN IN UNISON

As Left parties stepped up their opposition to the Indo-US nuclear deal, ruling Congress on Thursday said any decision on the controversial deal will have to be taken in unison by all the UPA alliance partners.

Noting that his party’s stand on the nuclear deal was ‘clear’, AICC General Secretary Digvijay Singh said Congress feels that agreement was in the interest of the country and it could remedy the power shortage in the country.

“We should do it (clinch the deal),” Singh told reporters in New Delhi as hectic parleys began across the political spectrum on the matter.

However, the Congress leader said, “It is not a Congress government. It is an UPA government. Whatever decision we take on the nuclear deal will have to be taken by all the UPA alliance partners together.”

Criticising the Left parties on their opposition to the deal, Singh said, the Congress “has not been able to understand what objections the Left have to the nuclear deal” till today despite External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee constantly keeping in touch with them on the matter.

Asked if the Left was blackmailing the government, he said, “They should understand that in today’s world no one is an untouchable and we should do what is in the interest of the country.

Referring to China to support his argument, Singh reminded the Left parties that the Communist country has also signed an agreement with the US on setting up nuclear power plant.

Batting for the agreement, he said, India is going to get all nuclear technology without signing the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and ‘without making any other compromise’.

“With the nuclear deal, we will have an assured nuclear fuel supply and no one should object to this,” he said.