By IANS
New Delhi : India’s ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) met Monday at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s residence to chalk out a strategy for a later meeting with the Left on the Indo-US nuclear deal.
Railway Minister Lalu Prasad, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar and Surface Transport Minister T.R. Baalu (DMK) were the leaders of the Congress allies in the coalition who attended the meeting.
It was the first time the UPA allies met ahead of the meeting of the 15-member UPA-Left nuclear committee, which is meeting for the fifth time since a row erupted over the deal forcing the government to virtually backtrack.
In his interaction with the media on his return from South Africa, Manmohan Singh indicated his disappointment over the allies’ reaction to the deal. He has said the cabinet had collectively approved the nuclear deal.
While Pawar and Lalu Prasad have stated that they did not want to go for elections over the nuclear deal, DMK chief M. Karunanidhi has claimed that he had never give his support to the nuclear deal.
The allies’ reaction came after the Left clarified that it would not approve the deal unless its concerns were not addressed.
Even after a senior minister said the deal has been temporarily shelved, the Left has asked the government to clarify its position on the agreement.
The Left leaders reiterated Sunday that the government should say that the deal is on hold and it was not proceeding with it.
The statement came in the wake of Manmohan Singh’s latest comments that the government would still try to build a national consensus over the issue.