Despite the Left parties breaking ties with the UPA on an acrimonious note, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said he has no bitterness towards them but was sad at the turn of events.Mukherjee, however, said he did not want to be a political astrologer and comment on whether the Congress will do business with the Left parties again in the future."These four years, despite difference of perceptions and divergence of views we carried on. For the Left parties, I have sad feelings but no bitterness," he told a TV channel."We have no hard feelings, to be frank. I have no bitterness towards the Left leaders and Left leaders too have never attacked me personally," Mukherjee, the Government's chief negotiator with the Left on the nuclear deal, said.Asked whether Congress will be open to do business with the Left parties after next elections, he said, "how can I say right now. Let us wait, how circumstances will unfold. Let us not predict and be political astrologers. I do not keep options open and do not keep options closed." Asked what was Jyoti Basu's reaction when he met him after Left parties withdrew support to the UPA, the Minister said the Marxist veteran was ‘too bittered to express his feelings’."I thought it is my responsibility to inform him because when the coalition was formed he told me that as a Leader of the Lok Sabha it will be my responsibility to see that the coalition lasts. I thought when I failed, it was my responsibility to tell the grand old man that I have failed," Mukherjee said.
