Karat attack: He probably wrote before he met PM, says Congress

Rejecting allegations of CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat over India’s vote at IAEA on the Iran issue, Congress today maintained ...

Rejecting allegations of CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat over India’s vote at IAEA on the Iran issue, Congress today maintained that it had no link whatsoever with either the Non-Aligned Movement or the Indo-US nuclear deal.

Congress spokesman Anand Sharma told The Indian Express, ‘‘it is unfortunate that Karat has this perception, which is, in fact, without any basis… Karat had perhaps written the article for CPI(M) mouthpiece People’s Democracy before the Left meeting with the Prime Minister’’.

Regarding Karat’s charge that the Prime Minister was ‘‘directly responsible for this state of affairs’’ Sharma said: ‘‘Manmohan Singhji had made it clear while in the US that India is against a reference of the Iran nuclear issue to the UN Security Council.’’

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It is ‘‘very unfortunate that an impression is sought to be created that our decision on the IAEA vote was not independent. We take such decisions on merit, on the basis of a fair assessment and in conformity with our stated positions,’’ he added.

Dismissing Karat’s charge of India’s ‘‘defection from the NAM stand,’’ Sharma put forth a counter-question: ‘‘Why is he linking the IAEA issue with NAM? There is no connection between them.’’

The spokesman then went on to add: ‘’The supporting party can have its own perceptions — different from ours —but we wish that no misunderstanding is created on a delicate issue like this one.’’

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