New Delhi, August 8
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh categorically told the Left leaders that the 123 agreement would not be renegotiated and the government would operationalise the Indo-US civilian nuclear agreement.
The Prime Minister conveyed the government’s stand in his telephonic conversation with the Left leaders last night after the communists rejected the agreement and asked the UPA government not to proceed further in the Indo-US civilian nuclear cooperation.
Manmohan Singh, however, conveyed the government’s willingness to address the concerns of the Left parties when he spoke to CPM general secretary Prakash Karat and CPI leaders A.B. Bardhan and D. Raja last night, party sources said here today.
The Prime Minister in his suo motto statement in Parliament on August 13 is expected to present a point by point the assurances the government had met in the 123 agreement.
The four Left parties rejected the agreement, saying there were many concerns regarding the 123 agreement in context of the Hyde Act. They insisted that the agreement fell short of the assurances given by the Prime Minister to Parliament.
The Congress, however, appeared unfazed with the Left stand. It said the development did not pose a threat to the stability of the government at the Centre.
“There is absolutely no question of the government being destabilised. It will last its full term,” Congress spokesperson Jayanti Natarajan said while insisting that the Left’s rejection did not amount to an ultimatum to the government.
“We are confident that the Prime Minister and the government would be able to convince the Left that the steps were taken in the best interest of the nation,” she told reporters here.
On the Left demand for a constitutional amendment for bringing international treaties for approval in Parliament, she said it was a “very complex matter” and the UPA had to take a collective view on this.
“The matter will have both national and international ramifications. It should be discussed within the UPA and with the allies. It is not possible to have a Congress view as there has to be a UPA view,” she added.
The Left sources said they were opposing the deal, more on its context than on the contents of the agreement. They said though the Left knew the deal was a lost cause, it was opposing it because it wanted a political mileage out of opposing the USA. Party sources conceded that the decision to operationalise the nuclear deal was an executive one, it could not be reversed, but it had little choice but to stick to its guns in Parliament because it could not abandon on its ideological positions.
However, the Left would have to walk a tight rope in Parliament so that it was not identified with the BJP and for that they would adopt the tactics of opposing the saffron party’s demand for setting up of a Joint Parliamentary Committee to look into the issue.
