NEW DELHI, 20 August 2007 — With the left bloc in no mood to support the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government on the Indo-US nuclear deal, the Congress leaders are trying their best to resolve the crisis. Senior Congress leader and External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee discussed the issue with Sitaram Yechury (Communist Party pf India-Marxist) yesterday morning.
“We are making serious efforts (to resolve the crisis), both sides are engaged in talks on various fronts,” Mukherjee said ahead of the meeting. Mukherjee was accompanied by Defense Minister A.K. Antony and senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel. “We are examining it from various sides and let us see how we can proceed further and what could be done to overcome the impasse,” Mukherjee said.
Ruling out any compromise from the left, after the meeting Yechury said: “There is no compromise formula. It depends on the government what to decide.”
“We have raised certain issues and let them respond to them. Let them set up a mechanism that will evaluate the impact of the Hyde Act on the sovereignty of India and other related issues,” Yechury said. The left has apparently conceded enough to give the government a little time to formulate its response.
“If the government is coming out with any suggestions, we are open to considering them,” Yechury said. On the government’s stand that the Hyde Act was not binding on India, he said: “The 123 agreement clearly states the supremacy of national laws in case of any dispute. For the US, the Hyde Act is national law. We are of the view that we should take into consideration the implications of this before moving forward.” Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and United Progressive Alliance chairperson and Congress President Sonia Gandhi will hold meetings with allies to discuss the situation arising out of left parties’ stand, Mukherjee said. With UPA allies against midterm polls, sources said, they have advised the Congress to work out a formula for settling differences with the left over the nuclear deal.
While at one level hectic efforts are being made to resolve the crisis, at the other, prospects of snap polls have not been ruled out. This situation was apparently discussed by Telugu Desam Party chief Chandrababu Naidu and Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh with CPI-M leader Prakash Karat over the phone yesterday.
The CPI-M is not against snap elections, which may be the course, if the government goes ahead with the deal. On this, a party source said: “If elections are held, we may or may not lose some seats, but the Congress will lose heavily.” However, prospects of the left entering into an alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to push the Congress out of power over the deal are as good as nonexistent. Dismissing this suggestion, Karat said yesterday in a statement that the CPI-M “will not have any truck” with the BJP. “The six-year record of the BJP-led government is infamous for its kowtowing to the US,” he said.
The left parties will meet today to discuss the situation. Categorically ruling out his party’s support on the deal, A.B. Bardhan (Communist Party of India) said yesterday in Ahmedabad: “They (UPA) will have to pay a big political price if they are not ready to reconcile with us on the nuclear issue.” Though the BJP is working for 2009 polls, it has called on its workers to be ready for snap polls. “You must be ready for any eventuality as anything may happen at any time,” BJP leader M. Venkaiah Naidu told party workers yesterday in Bangalore.
