The Hindu : Front Page : UPA-Left meet: Pranab optimistic

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Mar 16, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Front Page

Front Page

UPA-Left meet: Pranab optimistic

Vinay Kumar

NEW DELHI: With two days to go for a crucial meeting of the United Progressive Alliance-Left joint committee on the India-United States civilian nuclear deal, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday expressed the hope that differences with the Left allies on the issue would be resolved.

Mr. Mukherjee, who is also the convenor of the committee, told reporters in Chandigarh that he was engaged in talks with the Left to sort out the matter.

“I am hopeful of sorting out the issue [with the Left],” he said.

On his forthcoming visit to Washington, Mr. Mukherjee said the nuclear deal was not the only issue which would come up for discussion with the U.S.

Ahead of the UPA-Left committee meeting, CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat said the draft safeguards agreement negotiated with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was under the “jurisdiction” of the committee.

Mr. Karat said the government would apprise the committee of the IAEA safeguards negotiations and present the draft before it.

“The meeting process will start on Monday but we do not know how long it will take,” he told The Hindu on Saturday.

Not about safeguards

CPI general secretary A.B. Bardhan was quoted in an interview to a TV channel as having said that the Left’s problem was with the India-U.S. deal and not about safeguards.

“Not about the Nuclear Suppliers Group [NSG] either, provided the NSG is not conditional as it is today. You are forgetting that no unconditional waiver will come unless the U.S. supports it,” Mr. Bardhan told Karan Thapar in an interview with CNN-IBN.

“If they [the government] say we are not going ahead with the deal what is our problem.”

CPI national secretary D. Raja said the Left parties would take some time to study the IAEA safeguards draft agreement.

The Left might ask what the government meant by trying to evolve a “political consensus,” he said.

Too technical

Informed sources said the draft safeguards agreement was “too technical” and the committee members would find it “tough and time-consuming” to go through it in a comprehensive manner.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Front Page

News Update

Stories in this Section