With most UPA constituents disfavouring early polls, Congress on Friday said it wants to take the Left allies along while pushing the Indo-US nuclear deal and that there would be ‘no loss of face’ if the agreement fails. Insisting that UPA government is not a ‘one-issue government’, Congress spokesman Shakeel Ahmed rubbished reports about Prime Minister Manmohan Singh offering to resign over the nuclear deal in the wake of stiff opposition by the Left parties. He said all steps involved in the nuclear deal so far have been taken with ‘consent’ of the Left parties and the government would continue to do so in future. "We want to keep the government intact and at the same time we want the deal also," Ahmed told reporters in New Delhi as hectic parleys involving the Congress, other UPA constituents and Left parties continued with an aim of finding an end to the deadlock over the issue. Without spelling out the future plans, he maintained that whatever action government takes, it will be in the national interest. To a question, he said the nuclear deal is in the national interest and added that the government will try to take the Left parties along while pushing it. Questioned whether it would not be a ‘loss of face’ for the government and Congress if the deal does not go through, Ahmed disagreed and referred to the Prime Minister's statement that the UPA government ‘is not a one-issue government’.
