Left refuses to budge, puts UPA on notice

New Delhi: In the ongoing face-off over the Indo-US nuclear deal, the Left on Saturday stopped short of withdrawing support to the UPA Government. Instead, the CPI-M threw the ball to the UPA's court, saying there was no change in its strong views on the deal and that the 123 Agreement cannot be operationalised.

CPI-M General Scretary Prakash Karat and politburo member Sitaram Yechury met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Saturday afternoon to convey the party politburo's decision to the government.

Left sources told CNN-IBN that the CPI-M politburo has made up its mind that they will not change their stand even after the deliberations of the past few days of with the UPA Government.

The CPI-M, however, made it clear that it is not withdrawing support to the Manmohan Singh Government. Instead, the Left set the condition that the government will have to publicly acknowledge that its concerns will not be disregarded when further consultations take place in the Nuclear Suppliers Group.

"We should not be dependent on the US and the Hyde Act," the CPI-M said. "We must not be obliged to return the fuel to countries of the NSG if the deal is ever called off," the party said.

In return, the Left will continue with issue-based support to the UPA Government. For the UPA, the silver lining is the shared enmity for the communal forces and communal agenda of the BJP.

The Left has also said that they don't want any protocol or international agreement to be signed until their concerns are addressed.

The Left's main concern is that US laws should not be supreme. As of now the Left wants the government to negotiate the safeguards, and not sign any agreement with the IAEA till the 123 pact is concluded.

The Left has called for a Central Emergency Committee meeting on August 22-23.

The Left and Congress leaders have been trying hard to find a face-saving formula to resolve their differences over the contentious issue.

The Prime Minister met West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya over dinner on Friday night. Sources told CNN-IBN that senior leaders like Pranab Mukherjee and Sitaram Yechury have also been in talks to work on a compromise draft.