NEW DELHI, 25 August 2007 — A day after the Communist Party of India-Marxist warned the federal coalition government that it would withdraw support if it pursued the Indo-US nuclear deal, the party sent a different message yesterday.

Saying that the CPI-M had not created any “crisis” for the government, party leader Sitaram Yechury said: “I don’t see a crisis. Where was it and where has it gone.” In the same breath, Yechury asserted that his party was only asking the government to press the “pause” button and not the “eject or stop” button. The government should not proceed further to put the deal into effect as it was not in national interest. There should be a “structured debate” in Parliament, with the government addressing members’ concerns, Yechury said.

Talks between the left and the Congress party could be held after the return of the chief of the ruling United Progressive Alliance Sonia Gandhi from South Africa, Yechury said. He also pointed out that the left did not want the nuclear deal to hijack discussion in Parliament on other important issues, such as price rise, legislation for workers in unorganized sector and implementation of the recommendations of the Srikrishna Commission and the Sachar Committee.

In the eastern metropolis of Kolkata, veteran Communist leader Jyoti Basu said that his party was waiting for a response from Congress to its demand not to put the nuclear deal into effect.

“The ball is in the court of Congress. Let us see what they do. We have made our stand clear to them and are now waiting for their response,” Basu told reporters.

Asked whether the CPI-M was softening its opposition to the nuclear deal, Basu said: “No, we have not moved an inch from our stand. We have asked the government not to proceed with the deal. We don’t know about the provisions of the Hyde Act and how it will affect us.”

The Left Front patriarch had earlier ruled out any possibility of an interim election, saying his party had sought a discussion in Parliament on the nuclear deal under section 193 which does not require voting.

A survey meanwhile showed that nearly half of Indians polled support the nuclear deal and believe the government should not bow to pressure from its leftist allies to scrap the pact.

The survey of 6,500 voters by The Week magazine and C-Voter polling firm said 46 percent backed the deal, with just 28 percent against it. The rest did not state an opinion.

“The leftist resistance to the deal has not found much support among voters in general,” said Yashwant Deshmukh, director of C-Voter.

The communists have 60 MPs in the 545-member lower house of Parliament and their support ensures that the Congress party-led government has a majority in the house.

But the survey held some good news for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who has been buffeted by criticism both from the left and the Hindu right over the deal, with 55 percent of voters saying he had done an “overall good job” as premier. Just under a quarter disagreed.

Analysts said the deal could still be saved if it reaches the US Congress early next year. The deal needs one final approval from the US Congress to go through. But with Washington entering an election year in 2008, the clock is ticking fast, officials and analysts in New Delhi and Washington said.

The communists have demanded India put off negotiations for key global approvals for the deal, required before it can be presented to Congress.

But a delay would imperil the agreement, which would then have to struggle to make it over the din of the US election campaign and tight Congressional schedules. “If we don’t get the agreement up to Congress by April at the very latest, it is unlikely to be acted on (during) the remainder of the Congress,” said a congressional aide.

“The presidential campaign is just going to swamp everything else and crowd things out for the calendar,” he told Reuters, noting Congress was likely to give precedence to spending bills needed to keep the government running.

— Additional input from agencies