Left warns govt, Congress hits back where it hurts

“If the government thinks that after arriving at an agreed text with the IAEA on a safeguards agreement they can proceed to take the next steps for operationalising the agreement, they are mistaken,” the piece says. “It will amount to a gross violation of the majority opinion in Parliament. The Left parties will take all the necessary steps to stop the government from taking such a harmful step. It is for the Congress leadership to decide whether it wants to be seen as kowtowing to the pressure of the Bush administration or acting democratically and heeding the voice of parliament and the people. And this decision has to be a quick and clear one. The future of this government depends on the decision they will take.”

The ratcheting up of pressure from the Left comes when both CPM and CPI are scheduled to hold their party conferences later this month — CPI in Hyderabad on March 23 and CPM in Coimbatore on March 29.

Mukherjee is expected to visit the US on March 23-24, possibly with the IAEA draft agreement. In the political resolutions of both parties, blocking the nuclear deal is listed as one of their successes during the UPA rule.

“Once again the pro-US media aided by sources in the prime minister’s office and the ministry of external affairs are busy fabricating another “successful” step forward in the Indo-US nuclear deal,” the PD piece says. “If one is to believe these reports, after five rounds of negotiations, the Indian side has got a safeguards agreement which will overcome all the problems posed by the Hyde Act and its 123 progeny. This is, to use an American term, pure baloney! Neither the Hyde Act nor the 123 agreement grants lifetime fuel supply assurance to safeguarded reactors.”

The piece recalled that the government had committed that after the talks with the IAEA, the outcome would be reported to the UPA-Left Committee: “It is unfortunate that the statement made by the minister of external affairs to parliament on March 3, 2008 and the prime minister’s reply to the debate on the president’s address continue to harp on the government’s efforts to go ahead with the nuclear deal.”

Left leaders said they do not want to discuss the merits or demerits of the IAEA agreement claiming it cannot alter the situation as far as the Hyde Act is concerned. The Left parties, it said, had clearly stated that the government cannot proceed with the finalisation of the IAEA safeguards agreement and go to the Nuclear Suppliers Group “given the basic objection to the Hyde Act and the 123 agreement.”