Left hardens stance on N-deal, as US expresses readiness to implement it

The CPI (M) on Saturday reasserted its tough stance over the Indo-US nuclear stating that the party would not compromise on it.

Kolkata/New Delhi, Sept 29 : The CPI (M) on Saturday reasserted its tough stance over the Indo-US nuclear stating that the party would not 'compromise' on it.

Veteran CPI (M) leader Jyoti Basu, who chose to keep the answer on Left's withdrawal of support to the Congress-led UPA government open-ended, spelt out the tough stance of the party today.

"We cannot compromise. Let us see what the Congress does and then we shall take a decision," Basu told reporters after attending his party's Central Committee meeting in Kolkata.

Basu had recently echoed incumbent Chief Minister of the State, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee's view that nuclear energy is crucial for the country.

The tough stance from the CPI (M) comes a day after the politburo meeting of the party, where reportedly the hard-line stance opted by party's general Secretary Prakash Karat prevailed over the soft stance put forward by Bhattacharjee and other leaders from West Bengal.

Basu also said that External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee who is the convenor of the UPA-Left committee on the nuclear deal had spoken to him on the issue on Friday.

"I have told him (Mukherjee)...You will be present there. But we cannot compromise," Basu said ahead of the next week meeting of the UPA-Left committee.

According to reports, Karat has issued an 'equal evil' principle to counter both the Congress and the BJP. According to the new principle, both communalism (BJP) and imperialism (close ties with the US as pursued by the UPA) are Left's greatest enemies and that the party have to maintain an 'equidistance' from both.

This new principle and Karat's note on nuclear deal along with the issue of supporting the UPA government will be discussed in the three-day long Central Committee meeting, beginning this Saturday.

Meanwhile, the US has said that it is ready to implement the nuclear deal with India, once New Delhi expresses its readiness.

We will deal with it in terms of the opportunities that are there when India is ready to move forward," US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, Richard Boucher, told reporters in New York.

Replying cautiously, Boucher said that Washington understands the situation in New Delhi as Indian Prime Minister is answering questions, which have been raised in its domestic political system.

Boucher also refused to spell out a timeline for the deal saying, "We did talk about the steps down the road, but we'll leave it to the Indians to work their way through the current political discussion in Delhi."

ANI