Twice shy

In an editorial in 8216;People8217;s Democracy8217;, the CPM accuses the Congress leadership of 8216;double betrayal8217; and alleges...

In an editorial in 8216;People8217;s Democracy8217;, the CPM accuses the Congress leadership of 8216;double betrayal8217; and alleges that the ruling party is committed to a strategic collaboration with the US regardless of whether it is in the national interest or not.

It says the Congress betrayed its commitment to the Left twice on presenting the outcome of the talks with the IAEA before the UPA-Left committee on the nuclear deal and taking into account the findings of the committee before deciding to proceed further. 8216;This is the manner in which the Congress conducted affairs when it was leading a minority coalition government8217;, it notes.

Fight to finish

In an interview to 8216;People8217;s Democracy,8221; CPM General Secretary Prakash Karat says the Left parties will work to ensure that the nuclear deal does not get operationalised during the life of the Manmohan Singh government. Noting that the UPA government has lost legitimacy after the withdrawal of support by the Left parties, he says the stand of the Left parties, irrespective of what others do, is that 8220;we will vote against the government for their betrayal of national interests8221;.

He also had a veiled warning to parties who have come out in support of the Congress-led coalition. 8220;One must not forget that Congress and UPA are losing ground among the people. This is the political reality. Our recent Party Congress has made this assessment. If anybody wants to hitch their fortunes with Congress, that is their business,8221; he says.

Atmospheric pressure

An article titled 8216;G8 O5 MEM16 climate change = 08217; reviews the recently-held G8 summit and says those who expected the conclave to take any meaningful steps forward on one of its main agendas, climate change, must have been disappointed.

It accuses the US of stage-managing the whole show resulting in the G8 agreeing with its position that growing economies like India and China should take part in the emission reductions.

The article also questions the role played by India dubbing it as 8216;obscure8217;. Getting the G8 to agree with this US position, dramatically shifting the terms of the global negotiations in the lead-up to Copenhagen 2009 when the new Treaty is to be finalised, represents 8216;a clear victory for the US8217;, it says.

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It says there was no official statement made or released to the international press by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh or by the Indian delegation though there were some reports in Indian publications that he had intervened to categorically reject the notion of India accepting emission reduction commitments.

8220;Perhaps one should not look too closely at the PM8217;s contribution at Toyako, or expect that he would take on Bush on climate change. After all, the PM was so busy garnering G8 support for the nuclear deal and he could not risk spoiling the atmospherics,8221; it says.