By IANS,
New Delhi : The government Monday refused to meet a Left deadline and clarify if it was finalising the India-specific safeguards agreement with the IAEA to take forward the India-US nuclear deal.
The four Left parties propping Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s government have threatened to withdraw their legislative support over the safeguards pact.
In its reply to the Left parties, the government urged the Communists to attend one more meeting of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA)-Left nuclear committee, Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) leader Abani Roy told IANS here.
Interestingly, only the RSP and the Communist Party of India (CPI) have received the government reply.
“We have not received the reply,” said Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) politburo member S. Ramachandra Pillai.
The CPI-M-led Left parties had asked the government to clarify by Monday if it was approaching the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to finalise the India-specific safeguards agreement.
“The letter is non-committal,” said RSP general secretary T.J. Chandrachoodan.
The CPI-M and its three allies are meeting Tuesday afternoon to decide their next step.
Although the Left has indicated that they would withdraw their support to the government if the latter carried the India-US nuclear deal forward, the Communists have said they would not do so when Manmohan Singh is away in Japan.
Manmohan Singh left for Japan Monday morning to attend the G8 summit where he is expected to meet US President George W. Bush. The prime minister is scheduled to return Thursday.