By IANS,
New Delhi : A day after taking back their legislative support to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s government, the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M)-led Left parties Thursday vowed to make it “impossible for the government to go ahead with the deal”.
Attacking the prime minister and his government for approaching the IAEA Board of Governors without proving its majority in the Lok Sabha, CPI-M general secretary Prakash karat said: “It is shocking and a betrayal of not just the Left but the country and the people. It is a sad state of affairs. All sorts of concoctions are being put forward. We want the prime minister to answer.
“We will fight every step to stop this deal. We will make it impossible for the government to go ahead with the deal.”
The Communists came down heavily on the government for approaching the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to finalise the India-specific safeguards pact Wednesday night, a day after External Affaris Minister Pranab Mukherjee said the government would seek a trust vote before taking such a step.
“There are no reasons to doubt the integrity of Pranab Mukherjee. He publicly committed on behalf of the government after consulting the PM. But what happened in Japan? He (PM) went back on this commitment,” Karat told a crowded press conference at his party headquarters.
Manmohan Singh returned to India Thursday after attending the G8 summit in Japan, where he discussed the nuclear deal with US President George W. Bush.
The Marxist leader again took strong exception to the government’s argument that the text of the safeguards pact was a classified document.
“Yesterday they said it was a classified and a privileged document but a US website had put it up. This is the plight of the country,” Karat said.
Mukherjee has written to Karat that the text of the pact was a privileged document and could not be shared with a third party without going through the laid down procedures of the IAEA.
Karat urged “informed citizens” to study the document that has also been made public by the ministry of external affairs on its website.
“It is a difficult document. But it is the question of the sovereignty of the country and its vital interests.”