By IANS,
New Delhi : Intensifying its attack on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the CPI-M Tuesday said the “repetition of his proposal” to go ahead with the India-US civil nuclear deal despite the majority’s disapproval showed his obsession with the US and his “disregard” for parliament.
“The repetition of the proposal by the prime minister shows a disregard for parliament. It reveals nothing but an obsession to fulfil the commitment made to (US) President (George W.) Bush in July 2005, in which the people of this country and parliament had no say,” the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) said in a statement here.
Manmohan Singh Monday offered to abide by the “sense of the house” if the government was allowed to complete the process of negotiations over the India-specific safeguards agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).
The communists have been opposing the government’s move to finalise the IAEA agreement and the NSG process, saying that it would lead to operationalisation of the 123 agreement with Washington, something they oppose vehemently.
The CPI-M, which along with three other Left parties extends crucial legislative support to the government, argued that taking the deal back to parliament after taking the steps for “operationalisation of the deal” would mean “a fait accompli” as the only step left would be the vote in the US Congress.
“We wish to point out that already in December 2007, both houses of parliament comprehensively discussed the 123 Agreement. It is on record that except for the UPA parties, all other parties which constitute the majority expressed reservations about the 123 Agreement and urged the government not to proceed further,” the CPI-M statement said.
The statement came three days after CPI-M general secretary Prakash Karat accused the Manmohan Singh government of “being obsessed with its vision of becoming a strategic partner of the US”.
On Tuesday, the CPI-M again said that the government had not “shown” the text of its negotiations and the agreement with the IAEA to the Left parties nor the members of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA)-Left nuclear committee. “The government now insists on going ahead for getting the board’s approval without anyone seeing the text or the UPA-Left Committee giving its concurrence.”