Lefts stand on nuclear deal remains undiluted

The demand by the Left parties to immediately halt further negotiations to operationalise the Indo-US civilian nuclear energy cooperation agreement remained undiluted on Monday with the constituents of the Left Front asking the UPA government not to send representatives to Vienna for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) meet.

New Delhi, Aug 20 : The demand by the Left parties to immediately halt further negotiations to operationalise the Indo-US civilian nuclear energy cooperation agreement remained undiluted on Monday with the constituents of the Left Front asking the UPA government not to send representatives to Vienna for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) meet.

The bilateral nuclear deal with the US has already been agreed in principle and for its operationalisation India have to agree to a safeguard agreement with the IAEA for which the meeting is slated to be held in the first week of September in Vienna.

Reiterating its earlier stand, the leaders of Left Front- CPI (M), CPI, RSP and AIFB-which provides crucial support to the UPA government, said, "The Government should not proceed further" on the deal.

Commenting on the new mechanism proposed by the UPA to address Left's concern, particularly the implication of the US Hyde Act on the implementation of the nuclear deal, the Left leaders said that the committee's role would only come up after the government do not take the next step of sending the diplomats to Vienna.

The Left parties meeting that went for more than two hours in the national capital also discussed making the UPA constituents see the 'reasonableness' in their stand.

The firefighting between the UPA and the Left continued on Monday, while NDA and the Third Front, UNPA, demanded setting up of a Parliamentary panel to look into the concerns about the deal.

Monday also saw, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, stressing on the need for nuclear energy, and urged all political parties to appreciate pursuing a sound energy security strategy.

"Our government is committed to the development of nuclear energy," he added without mentioning the nuclear deal.

Meanwhile, in the Rajya Sabha, Chairman of the House Hamid Ansari rejected BJP's demand for a discussion on the Indo-US nuclear agreement under Rule 168 that entails voting.

"Since it is not a constitutional obligation for the Executive to have the approval of Parliament on any international treaty or agreement, admittance of these motions which involve approval of Parliament will not be in order," Ansari said in his ruling.

A crucial meeting of the CPI (M) is slated for August 22 before which the UPA government has to come out with proposals to address the Left's concern.

ANI