Karat meets Mayawati in a move to ‘vote out’ UPA

Prakash Karat met Mayawati in an apparent move to take on the Government during trust vote in Lok Sabha on July 22.

CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat and BSP supremo Mayawati, two staunch opponents of the Indo-US nuclear deal, met in an apparent move to take on the Government during the trust vote in Lok Sabha on July 22.

Karat, who is spearheading the Left opposition on the deal, drove to the UP Chief Minister’s residence for the meeting.

This is the first meeting between the two leaders after the recent political developments that saw Mayawati withdrawing support to the Government followed by the Left last week.

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After the 45-minutes meeting, the Marxist leader hailed Mayawati’s opposition to the nuclear deal and said the two parties would cooperate in the “struggle” against the agreement.

“We wanted the two parties cooperate in the struggle against the Government,” Karat said in apparent reference to the trust vote being sought by the Manmohan Singh ministry.

While the Left has 59 MPs in the Lok Sabha, the BSP has 17.

Karat had on July 11 said he was in touch with “all parties” which can take a stand against the deal, an issue on which the Left parties withdrew support to the Government reducing it to a minority.

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Mayawati has so far declined to divulge her strategy on the trust vote but there were reports that she was attempting to woo several SP and Congress MPs in UP into her fold to vote against the Government in the trial of strength in the Lok Sabha.

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