By P. Vijian, Bernama,
New Delhi : India’s leftist parties Tuesday threatened to withdraw support for the main ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) after the government decided to pursue the controversial nuclear deal with the United States.
“In view of the PM’s (prime minister’s) announcement, the time has come to withdraw our support,” Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) general secretary Prakash Karat told reporters.
With the drastic move, Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh’s government would now have a thin majority of 225 seats in the 543-member parliament. The leftist parties’ decision came after Manmohan Singh left for Japan Monday to attend the G8 Summit.
India may soon go to the International Atomic Energy Agency to sign the safeguards agreement to kick-start its own civil nuclear energy programme.
The CPI-M, Congress Party of India (CPI), the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) and the Forward Bloc are the key leftist parties, with 59 members in the lower house. The leftist parties would meet President Pratibha Patil Wednesday to express their decision to withdraw support for the ruling government.
However, Congress spokesperson Shakeel Ahmed told reporters: “We have the numbers and we will prove our majority in the (lower) house (Lok Sabha).
The UPA government is unlikely to collapse after the left-wing parties end their 50-month support for the ruling coalition, as negotiations are going on to garner support from regional parties.
India, Asia’s third largest economy, is keen to sign a nuclear deal to ensure sufficient energy to fuel its growing economy, which is already saddled with energy shortage.