By IANS
New Delhi : In a possible indication of a softening of stand, Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) general secretary Prakash Karat said Monday that differences over the contentious India-US nuclear agreement could be “sorted out soon.”
“We are trying not to be adamant,” he said when pointed out the Left has been “adamant” on its opposition to the nuclear deal.
Karat, who was briefing the media about the two-day politburo meeting of the party, however reiterated that the party was of the view that the government should not proceed further to operationalise the deal.
“The government can also try to heed to our demand,” he said.
But he said the discussions between the Left parties and the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) allies in the nuclear committee have covered “substantial ground.”
According to Karat, at a meeting on Saturday with Manmohan Singh, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and the nuclear committee chairman Pranab Mukherjee, the communist leaders have suggested that there could be another meeting of the UPA-Left committee to discuss the nuclear deal.
“If there was no possibility of sorting out the issue, I would not have suggested there could be another meeting. I am sure there is a possibility,” he told reporters.
Asked how would the differences be sorted out as both the government and the Left were adamant on their respective stands, Karat said: “The government was not adamant. When we asked them not to go ahead with the operationalisation of the deal, they did not. We asked them not to negotiate with the IAEA, they heeded to it.”
“We are also trying not to be adamant,” he said.
The CPI-M-led Left parties, who extend a crucial legislative support to the Congress-led UPA government, has been opposing the nuclear agreement with Washington saying that it would undermine the country’s independent foreign policy and indigenous nuclear programme.
It has also warned of “serious consequences” if the government went ahead with its negotiations with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on an India- specific safeguard protocol before addressing the concerns expressed by the Left parties.
The 15-member UPA-Left nuclear committee, formed to address the Left’s concern over the deal, has met five times and the sixth meeting will be scheduled in two days.
Karat’s remarks was followed by his Communist Party of India (CPI) counterpart A.B. Bardhan’s reported statement that the Left will consider allowing the government to go to the IAEA for a safeguards agreement on the nuclear deal as long as no agreement is signed before clearing it with the Left parties.
Bardhan is reported to have said in an interview with NDTV that the UPA-Left committee could consider the proposal.