By IANS
New Delhi : Indian communists Monday rejected the government’s desperate pleas for a compromise to save the Indo-US nuclear deal but agreed to meet again Nov 16 for a final decision, even as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh openly voiced disappointment with his allies for not standing by him.
With hopes ebbing for the deal, Manmohan Singh vented his “disappointment” at leaders of the major allies of the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) coalition for not fully backing him when he came under Left attack after being part of the cabinet decision to go ahead with the nuclear deal.
The government suggested that a special parliament session could be convened to discuss the nuclear deal while talks with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) could be held simultaneously, but the Left parties rejected the idea.
According to sources, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who heads the 15-member UPA-Left nuclear committee suggested on behalf of the government that the deal could be kept aside if a majority of parliament opposes it during a discussion in the special session.
However, Left leaders who attended the meeting said it would not be possible to convene a special session to discuss the deal as the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party has indicated that they would not allow a parliament session unless their demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee on the deal is met.
“With the Gujarat elections as their main agenda, the BJP is in no mood to allow any discussion on the nuclear deal, so this proposal was difficult to get agreement on,” said a Left leader.
Amid continuing anxiety about a deal that could have re-opened the doors of global nuclear commerce, the UPA and its communist allies ended their fifth meeting on the issue. The government was disappointed at the end of the two-hour exercise because the Left refused to back down, informed sources told IANS.
“Most of the talking was done by (External Affairs Minister) Pranab Mukherjee and (Communist Party of India-Marxist general secretary Prakash) Karat,” said a source privy to the meeting. “The others only marginally intervened.
“At one stage Mukherjee said he had a personal message from the prime minister that the Left should make some compromise because his (Manmohan Singh’s) personal prestige was involved on the nuclear deal.
“Karat made it clear that the prime minister should not look at it personally,” the source added.
A Left leader later told IANS that the government was attempting to “emotionally blackmail us”.
A diplomatically worded statement issued at the end of the meeting said the discussions between the UPA parties and the Left took place in a “constructive and cordial atmosphere”.
Despite staking his prestige and that of his government on the nuclear deal, Manmohan Singh, however, did not offer to resign, trusting still the process of consensus building.
“The question of Manmohan Singh’s resignation is in the realm of speculation,” Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi told reporters.
Mukherjee, who chairs the joint UPA-Left nuclear panel, did not take questions from the throng of reporters outside his residence where the crucial meeting was held.
The Left leaders again stated that the government should spell out its final stand on whether the deal is on or off at the next and probably last meeting Nov 16.
The communists – who argue that the nuclear deal would make India a strategic ally of the US – also expect that the government will not take the next steps – a safeguard agreement with IAEA and a rule change by the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group – to make the nuclear deal operational till the joint UPA-Left panel submits if findings, possibly Nov 16.
“The government has reiterated it will not operationalise the deal until the joint panel submits its findings,” Communist Party of India (CPI) leader D. Raja told IANS.
With an intransigent Left bloc forcing an uncomfortable choice between the deal or early elections, Manmohan Singh earlier Monday expressed “disappointment” with his allies for not fully standing by him when he came under onslaught from the Left over the nuclear row.
The prime minister bared his heart at a UPA meeting, attended by top leaders of the major Congress allies, at his residence, informed sources said.
“The prime minister voiced his disappointment to Lalu Prasad, Sharad Pawar and T.R. Baalu over their public statements against the nuclear deal,” the source said.
The allies, however, argued that while they had originally backed the deal, they would prefer to put it on hold if the conflict with the Left forced an early parliamentary election.
Cabinet ministers Lalu Prasad, Baalu and Pawar are believed to have said that the situation was different when the cabinet approved the agreement. “The situation (then) was not either the deal or the government,” one of them pointed out.
It is the first time Manmohan Singh has directly confronted the allies, whose support his Congress-led government is dependent on, over any major issue. The prime minister had, however, made his disappointment with the allies known on his way home from South Africa.
But with the Left not open to any compromise, the nuclear deal appears headed for cold storage, at least until Nov 16.