New Delhi, Aug 19 (IANS) The Left parties Sunday appeared to be prepared to give the government time to work out a mechanism to address their concerns over the contentious Indo-US civil nuclear deal even as senior Congress leaders went into a huddle to thrash out ways out of the present political crisis.
Senior Left leader Sitaram Yechury Sunday met Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee who, along with senior leaders, A.K. Antony and Ahmed Patel, are trying to hammer out a compromise formula.
The Left is believed to have given the government a time frame of a few months within which it wants the government to resolve the issue and has also said that it would support the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) only on issue-by-issue basis henceforth, Left sources told IANS.
Meanwhile, sources in the Congress told IANS that if the government has to put the deal on hold under pressure from Left parties then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who is very sensitive about the nuclear deal, may offer to step down. The prime minister has given a lot of his time and attention to framing the deal which he feels will solve the country’s energy problems.
The sources say there is every likelihood that when the UPA meets in the evening, Manmohan Singh may offer to step down rather than compromise on the deal.
The Left parties are believed to have said that they will not budge from their opposition to the nuclear deal and are prepared to withdraw support unless the government works out a mechanism to address their concerns. Left sources said they are not keen to withdraw support right now and put the government in trouble.
The Congress is also buying time, discussing the possibility of calling for mid-term polls or mustering support for the government in case the Left withdraws support by wooing the non-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) parties.
Senior Congress leaders will be discussing several options – whether they should go ahead with the deal irrespective of the Left’s support and face the consequences; work out a mechanism with the Left in case they are giving issue-by-issue support and see how their allies react to that situation; call it quits and call for elections, which is the last option, or, forget about the Left and seek support from the Bahujan Samaj Party and other non-BJP parties.
According to Left sources, a major reason for the communists rejecting the Indo-US nuclear deal is that they cannot make any compromise on a move that would deepen the strategic alliance with the US. They have also indicated that they feel this stand would help them garner Muslim votes in case elections are called for.
Left sources pointed out that India’s vote against Iran at the IAEA and the country’s stance in favour of the US helped the communists get votes in Muslim bastions in the last assembly elections in Kerala and West Bengal when the Left brought up the subject during electioneering.
They said that their Muslim vote banks will be protected in case the government falls on this issue.
They have calculated that it will be government that will lose in the bargain and not the Left, the sources told IANS.
The Left is more incensed over the team of senior officers of the Atomic Energy Commission being dispatched to Vienna to finalise the logistics of implementing the deal with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
The Left has taken a very grave exception to this and said this could even compromise India’s integrity and sovereignty.
Emerging from Mukherjee’s residence Sitaram Yechury told waiting newsmen that, “The implications of the Hyde Act (a US law governing the 123 agreement) are very serious. Unless all the aspects of the Hyde Act are considered and deliberated, the Government should not go ahead with making any commitment to the IAEA.”
He of course left it to the government to decide the next course saying, “It is for the government to decide what course it takes.”
But Yechury also said: “If any such suggestion of examining the implications of the Hyde Act and our objections comes, we will see,” but added, “It is for the government to find out the mechanism.”
Meanwhile the core committee of the All India Congress Committee under chairmanship of party president Sonia Gandhi is scheduled to meet later in the evening, ostensibly to deliberate on this crisis.