Iran’s nuclear ambitions may nor may not end up as a the subject of a vote in Vienna later this month. But India’s Left parties have their own balloting plans. They are determined to force a vote in Parliament on the issue if the government did not change its stand at the next International Atomic Energy Agency board meeting on November 24.The Left is veering round to the view that such a threat is the only way to get the government to retrace its steps on Iran. The government, on its part, is adamant that it voted correctly in the IAEA on September 24 in supporting a resolution opening the way for the UN Security Council to take up the matter of Iran’s nuclear programme.The Left parties believe that with more than 100 MPs between them and with the support of the Samajwadi Party and Janata Dal(S) who have joined the Left-sponsored ’Committee for an Independent Foreign Policy’, they have enough firepower to put the government on the mat in Parliament.While the Left may not withdraw support, one view is that it will scale down its relationship with the UPA government and will henceforth provide only “issue-based support” if it insisted on sticking to its stand regarding Iran’s nuclear programme. Left parties will seek a meeting with the prime minister before the November IAEA meeting. It was decided at the UPA-Left coordination meeting on October 27 that the Iran issue would be discussed once Foreign Minister Natwar Singh returned from Moscow.At the convention on India’s independent foreign policy held in the Capital on Saturday, CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat said the Iran issue needed a full debate in Parliament as foreign policy issues could not be decided only by the PM and Foreign Minister. He said India should abstain from voting in the IAEA and tell the US that Iran should be allowed to develop its nuclear facilities for peaceful purposes. He said sanctions against it, if any, should be in accordance with international law.
