New Delhi, October 5
The Manmohan Singh government today said it was holding informal consultations with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for an India specific safeguard agreement.

The Congress-led coalition, however, pressed for holding formal talks with the atomic agency, which is taking the next step for negotiating an India specific agreement for the nuclear deal to move forward, in the UPA-Left committee meet this evening.

Left parties, however, stated that the formal talks with the atomic agency should be put on hold till the UPA-Left committee, formed to thrash out the differences on the nuclear deal, concludes its deliberations.

“No negotiations till the (UPA-Left committee) talks are on,” said a senior Communist leader.

The committee agreed to meet again on October 9, a day before IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei meets Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the Capital.

The IAEA chief is visiting India next week. He would arrive in New Delhi after holding talks with officials of the Atomic Energy Department in Mumbai. But discussions on India specific safeguards are not on the agenda during ElBaradei’s visit here.

Left party sources indicated that the government “more or less” accepted their suggestion not to proceed with the talks with IAEA.

Debabrata Biswas, All India Forward Bloc leader, who attended the meeting, said the Left parties have the impression that the government would not go ahead with operationalising the deal till the committee completed its discussions and came out with its findings.

Hours before the meeting, Left parties had made it clear that they would withdraw support to the government if it proceeded with operationalising the agreement.

“The question is whether India goes ahead with (operationalising) the agreement. Then we will have to see. If they proceed, we have already made it clear that our support will no longer be there”, CPM politburo member Sitaram Yechury said.

During the two- hour-long UPA-Left committee meeting, the leaders of the coalition pointed out the long delay in starting the formal talks with the IAEA and argued that the nuke deal does not restrict India to get fuel only from Washington.

They suggested that once the deal is inked, India could get fuel from any member of the Nuclear Supplier Group, including Russia and France.

Sources said the UPA leaders to buttress the point highlighted the recent trend among several nations to go for nuclear power, as it was environmentally less polluting compared to thermal. During the meeting, the two sides discussed the issue of uninterrupted fuel supply and technology transfer.

Left leaders today submitted a note on the implications of the nuke deal on the country’s foreign policy, to which the UPA has agreed to respond by the next meeting of the committee.