Manmohan disappointed over nuke deal politics

Just hours before the fifth meeting of the UPA-Left committee on Indo-US nuclear deal, whose convenor is External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, top leaders of the coalition government met today amidst report that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has expressed his disappointment over the politics being played over the bilateral agreement

New Delhi, Oct 22 : Just hours before the fifth meeting of the UPA-Left committee on Indo-US nuclear deal, whose convenor is External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, top leaders of the coalition government met today amidst report that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has expressed his disappointment over the politics being played over the bilateral agreement

Singh reportedly told his UPA partners that he was embarrassed by the prospect of retreating back on the deal which was passed by the Union Cabinet.

Reports indicate that the Prime Minister has hinted at resigning from the office, since he does not want to lead a 'lame-duck' government after succumbing to Left's opposition to the deal.

Peeved by remarks of some coalition partners like Rashtriya Janata Dal, Nationalist Congress Party and Dravida Munnetra Kazagham (DMK), where they had stated that nuclear deal was not an important an issue to put the government's stability at stake, Singh has reportedly asked the coalition partners to give their final stand on the issue.

During his return from South Africa, last week, Singh had told reporters that the deal was passed by the Cabinet where representatives of the coalition partners had already given their assent to it.

"This agreement (123-agreement) was approved by the Cabinet. So where is the question of the UPA going back on it?" Singh had said.However, the Congress today dismissed reports of Manmohan Singh's resignation and also said that the UPA partners had not expressed their reservation over the deal.

"They (UPA leaders like Lalu Prasad Yadav, Sharad Pawar and M Karunanidhi) have never said that," Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi told reporters.

Singh, who had said that the failure of operationalising the deal would not mean the end of the day as his party was not a single-issue government and had several other agendas to fulfil, had earlier stated that he was still hopeful of the deal.

Meanwhile, Left leaders are also meeting ahead of their with talks with the UPA government and speculations are rife that today's meet could be the last one.

CPI (M) leader Sitaram Yechury had expressed his hope that the meeting would be the last one with CPI General Secretary A B Bardhan making it clear that during Monday's meeting the UPA government should officially state that the nuclear deal has been put on hold.

As the October month is coming to an end, the deadline for getting a safeguard agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is also drawing near that has led to an assessment that the bilateral could be difficult to operationalise as steps like amendment in the 45-member Nuclear Suppliers Group's charter and the passing of the 123-agreement with the IAEA by the Congress would follow only after that.

The civilian nuclear cooperation deal aims to lift a three-decade ban on sales of US nuclear fuel and reactors to India, which was imposed after it conducted a nuclear test in 1974 while staying out of non-proliferation agreements.

The Left Front, which provides crucial support to the government from outside, has been opposing the deal and the situation between UPA and Left reached a nadir, sparking the prospect of snap elections.

ANI