Left parties meeting over Indo-US nuclear deal

All four Left parties-- CPI, CPI (M), Forward Bloc and RSP-- will meet here later in the day to decide their next course of action over the Indo-US civilian nuclear cooperation deal.

New Delhi/Hyderabad/Jammu, Aug 20 : All four Left parties-- CPI, CPI (M), Forward Bloc and RSP-- will meet here later in the day to decide their next course of action over the Indo-US civilian nuclear cooperation deal.

A day after the Congress Core Group suggested setting up an expert committee to look into the concerns of the Left parties, including the implications of the Hyde Act, the political activities remain the same on Monday.

Yesterday, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) affirmed support to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, under threat of losing critical support of its Left allies over the nuclear deal.

The Congress-led UPA said it had "full faith and confidence" in its leadership and the Prime Minister.

"The constituent parties of the UPA have full faith and confidence in the leadership of the UPA chairperson and the Prime Minister," Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee said.

"We are confident that they will be able to address all legitimate concerns, including those voiced by our Left colleagues, on issues of national interest," he added.

The Left, who are not part of the coalition but shore it up, warned the government of "serious consequences" if it pursues the US deal.

The four Left parties have 60 Members of Parliament (MPs) in the 545-member Lok Sabha. Singh's government could fall or be reduced to a minority if the left withdraws support.

Meanwhile, opposition parties continued to express their reservations about the deal.

Former Prime Minister and Jan Morcha leader V P Singh said the deal would let American strategic influence into India's foreign policy, without adding much to power generation capacity.

"They say they will add (through this deal) 20,000 megawatt of electricity. This will increase the percentage constituted by nuclear electricity of total electricity production from three per cent to seven. Is that 4-5 per cent increment reason enough to enslave ourselves?" he said.

Telugu Desam Party, President, N Chandrababu Naidu demanded that the deal be debated in the Parliament before it could be implemented.

"We have to debate and discuss what are the important issues in this agreement. Without debating, the Congress is saying the government has absolute power to accept or not to accept. Under that pretext they cannot sign the nuclear deal, and force the nation to follow this agreement," he said in Hyderabad.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Priyaranjan Das Munshi has already said the dealould be debated in the Parliament on August 23 - after Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's visit - for a short duration and without voting.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), however, has demanded a law making parliamentary ratification compulsory for all international agreements.

Despite looming crisis, Former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Farooq Abdullah saw no imminent threat to Singh's Congress party led government.

"I am sure the Left does not want the Congress Government to fall. I am quite confident. But the question is what is the way forward? We don't want an unstable India," Abdullah said in Jammu.

The deal is considered historic as it aims to give India access to U.S. nuclear fuel and equipment for the first time in three decades despite New Delhi having tested nuclear weapons and not having signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

ANI