PM still unwell, Mukherjee puts off Aussie visit as nuclear stalemate in Delhi continues

June 21, 2008, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh continues to be unwell, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee has postponed his visit to Australia by a day and Communist Party of India-Marxist General Secretary Prakash Karat has warned that the Left will withdraw support to the United Progressive Alliance government by Wednesday if the UPA continues to pursue the India-US nuclear deal. Dr Singh is still ill and resting, his media adviser Dr Sanjaya Baru told rediff.com on Saturday morning. The prime minister, who is reported to be running a viral fever, has cancelled all his appointments since Thursday, June 19, giving rise to speculation that he may resign if the nuclear deal is abandoned by his Congress party and its UPA allies to avoid an early election.
Meanwhile, Mukherjee, the Congress party's go-between with the Communists and its UPA allies, deferred an official visit to Australia so that he could try and convince the Left leaders on Saturday to soften their stand on the nuclear deal.
Karat meanwhile told The Telegraph newspaper that the Left will break away from the UPA if the government insists on taking the nuclear treaty to the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna.
The Telegraph felt the Left could pull down the government to ensure that a minority government does not go ahead with the nuclear deal.
"The situation is neither good or has worsened," Mukherjee told the media on Friday after an unscheduled meeting with Karat. Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar [Images] also spoke to Karat in an effort to break the deadlock.
Should the 60 Left MPs withdraw support to the UPA, the Congress may seek backing from the 38-member Samajwadi Party to save the government. The Congress has 153 MPs in the Lok Sabha; its other UPA allies include the Rashtriya Janata Dal (24 MPs), the Dravida Munnetra Kazgham and Nationalist Congress Party (16 and 11 MPs respectively), the Pattali Makkal Katchi (6), Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (5) and Ram Vilas Paswan's Lok Janashakti party (4).
Though the government had offered to talk to the Left parties on June 25, the meeting could be pushed to Saturday next, June 28, because Mukherjee is away.

source: www.rediff.com

We want to take Left along on N-deal: Congress

June 20, 2008, With most United Progressive Alliance constituents disfavouring early polls, Congress on Friday said it wants to take the Left allies along while pushing the Indo-US nuclear deal and that there would be "no loss of face" if the agreement fails.

Insisting that the UPA government is not a "one-issue government", Congress spokesman Shakeel Ahmed rubbished reports about Prime Minister Manmohan Singh offering to resign over the nuclear deal in the wake of stiff opposition by the Left parties.
He said all steps involved in the nuclear deal so far have been taken with "consent" of the Left parties and the government would continue to do so in future.
"We want to keep the government intact and at the same time we want the deal also," Ahmed told reporters in Delhi as hectic parleys involving the Congress, other UPA constituents and the Left parties continued with an aim of finding an end to the deadlock over the issue.
Without spelling out the future plans, he maintained that whatever action the government takes, it will be in the national interest.
To a question, he said the nuclear deal is in the national interest and added that the government will try to take the Left parties along while pushing it.
Questioned whether it would not be a "loss of face" for the government and the Congress if the deal does not go through, Ahmed disagreed and referred to the prime minister's statement that the UPA government "is not a one-issue government."
The indication of the softening of stand by the Congress came after major UPA constituents, including Nationalist Congress Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal and Lok Janshakti Party told the government on Thursday that they do not want early polls and efforts should be made to end the deadlock by addressing concerns of the Left parties.
The Congress spokesman sought to play down the Left parties' threat to withdraw support, saying he did not think about such a possibility and it was a "hypothetical" matter.
Ahmed thanked the Left parties for supporting the government for four-and-a-half years and said, "It is our responsibility to take them along."
In this regard, he pointed out that the government had set up the UPA-Left committee to discuss the nuclear issue, which was not in the Common Minimum Programme.
On resolution of the issue, he pinned hopes on the June 25 meeting of the UPA-Left committee on the nuclear deal and suggested that its outcome should be awaited.
When referred to reports that the prime minister had offered to resign, Ahmed denied it and said such "speculation" should not be spread.
Ahmed said Dr Singh has full support of Congress president Sonia Gandhi as well as the party on the nuclear issue.
Justifying the nuclear deal, the Congress spokesman said it is in the interest of the country as it will help meet the energy deficit.
The country needs two lakh megawatts of power and there is a shortfall of 78,000 MW, Ahmed said, adding the nuclear deal will help generate about 16,000 MW of electricity.
"It is our responsibility to take care of their (Left) apprehensions. They have given us support for four years and now we cannot let them go just like that," a senior Congress leader said.
Another leader said the government was likely to give the Left the assurance that it would operationalise the deal onlyafter seeking the sense of the House and ratification by the Union Cabinet.
He played down the idea there could be a loss of face internationally if the government does not go ahead with the deal, as it is known that it is a coalition and whatever decision is taken should be with the consent of everyone.
On the record, Ahmed recalled the prime minister himself having said at the HT Summit last year that his was not a one-issue government and if the deal does not come through, it would not be the end of life.
As hectic parleys took place in the run-up to the crucial June 25 UPA-Left discussions on the nuclear deal, in another sign of softening of stand, a Congress leader said this was not necessarily the last meeting of the panel.
Lending an insight into the present political situation, he said the "sense of panic" was created as it was realised that the impression that the government got in back-channel talks with the Left of another concession from them was in fact just a "false hope."
He further said if the Left gave any concession on the deal in the June 25 meeting, it would be a "major coup".
source: www.rediff.com

Don't sign IAEA agreement, Left to government

June 20, 2008, Hectic efforts to resolve the standoff over the Indo-US nuclear deal continued on Friday night with External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee discussing the issue with top Left leaders who clearly told the government that it should not sign the safeguards agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Hours after the Left parties threatened to break ties with the United Progressive Alliance if nuclear deal is implemented, Communist Party of India-Marxist general secretary Prakash Karat met Mukherjee and discussed the issue in the light of the government's attempts to go ahead with the agreement.
"I explained to him (Mukherjee) the Left parties' stand adopted at our meeting," Karat told reporters after his over hour-long discussions with the external affairs minister who will be out of the country from Saturday for three days before the June 25 meeting of the UPA-Left committee.
"We have asked the government not to proceed further on the IAEA safeguards agreeement," the CPI-M leader said.
After Karat, CPI national secretary D Raja also met Mukherjee and conveyed a similar message.
Earlier in the day, a senior CPI-M leader made it clear that "if the govrernment takes the next step, we will break with them."
Asked whether CPI-M would vote against the government after withdrawal of support, he said, "Once we break, we will be on the other side (opposition)."
To a question whether the Left parties would delink the IAEA safeguards agreement from the 123 agreement with the US and would be satisifed with a public announcement from the government on the issue, Karat shot back, "Are they (government) going to make a public pronouncement?"
Amid these strong statements, Karat expressed the hope that the government will last its full term and that "we are trying to make serious efforts (in this regard)."
Nationalist Congress Party leader Sharad Pawar , whose party is a key constituent of the UPA, met Karat on Friday morning in an attempt to defuse the situation.
He later said the government should listen to what the Left parties are saying and address their "concerns" while deciding on the nuclear deal.

soruce: www.rediff.com