NEW DELHI: Despite the left bloc remaining firmly opposed to the Indo-US nuclear deal, the Indian Congress party remains hopeful the deal would be reached.
Senior Congress leader and Union Minister Priyaranjan Dasmunsi told a television news channel the party would not let Prime Minister Manmohan Singh down on the deal. Dasmunsi, however, was not sure whether the deal would be finalized while George W. Bush remained the president. “That point I cannot answer, but I can tell you whatever commitment the prime minister has made would be fulfilled. We will not let down our prime minister till the last day of our tenure,” he said.
Dasmunsi said Congress President Sonia Gandhi, who is also the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson, was as committed to the deal as Singh.
External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee briefed Singh yesterday on the left’s stand against the deal.
Mukherjee apprised the prime minister about the deliberations he and Defense Minister A.K. Antony had with left bloc leaders and UPA allies over the past few days.
The issue has assumed a new turn as Singh has threatened to quit office if the deal does not go through. “He wants India to honor its commitment,” a senior Congress leader said.
Meanwhile, analysts and leaders say the fate of the Congress government will likely be decided this week with the specter of early polls looming, .
Tensions between the Congress-led government and the four-party left-wing alliance supporting it in Parliament have been running high since last July over the deal. Last week the spat worsened, with Singh appearing ready to risk his minority government and implement the pact with the United States, despite fierce objections from the communists.
The agreement would give India access to civilian nuclear technology even though it has not signed global non-proliferation pacts. On Friday, the leftists issued their strongest warning yet to the government, saying they would join hands with their arch rivals, the opposition Hindu nationalists, to bring it down if Singh went ahead with deal.
A government official who wished to remain unnamed said the premier and Congress party leader Sonia Gandhi would decide the deal’s future before Singh visits Japan on July 7 for the G8 Summit, where he will meet US President George W. Bush.
Political analyst Rasheed Kidwai noted Sonia Gandhi “put a lot of effort into cobbling together this coalition” five years ago. “She would not like to break off ties with any party or group in haste, she is not known to take decisions without thought,” Kidwai said.
A senior Congress leader said the party was consulting all allies and would take a final decision by June 25 when a last round of talks with the left is slated.
Syndicated columnist Neerja Chowdhury said the communists’ moves were ideologically driven.
“The Left is opposed to a strategic partnership with the US - this is the diet on which their cadres have been brought up. If they go against this, their cadres will desert them,” she said.
Meanwhile, efforts have been started by some small political groups within Singh’s coalition “to find a position acceptable to both sides,” said a leader from southern India, who did not wish to be named.
“We do not want to risk national polls right now with inflation at over 11 percent,” the leader said.
Annual inflation jumped Friday to 11.05 percent from 8.75 percent a week earlier, and economists say the rate is headed higher due to record global crude oil prices. “The high inflation drastically restricts the scope of any political heroics on the nuclear deal,” commented the Times of India newspaper on Saturday.
National polls are due by May 2009, and Congress is seen as preferring to hold the elections over the winter when the weather is cooler.
— With input from agencies
