Karat offers PM soap, no hope

CPI(M) may not soften stand on nuclear deal

NEW DELHI: The good news for the government from CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat’s conciliatory interview to a Kolkata-based daily is that he’s signalled his willingness to cease hostilities for the forthcoming winter session of Parliament. The bad news is that he gave away nothing on the central issue plaguing the Congress-Left alliance: the nuclear deal.

In the interview, Karat said the PM’s “integrity is unquestioned’’ and the Left has “respect’’ for him. These were soothing words for the PM’s injured pride after the Left virtually accused him of ``selling out’’ to Washington with the Indo-US nuclear deal.

However, much to the government’s disappointment, there was no hint anywhere about Karat’s views on the compromise formula that Pranab Mukherjee put on the table in the October 22 meeting of the UPA-Left committee on the nuclear deal.

At that meeting, Mukherjee is believed to have proposed that the government should be allowed to fulfill its international obligations by negotiating a safeguards agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency. He apparently assured the Left that it would be consulted at every step and the government would move ahead only after it gave the green signal.

While CPI leader AB Bardhan rejected it outright, almost provoking an angry response from Mukherjee, Karat intervened to say that they will think about it and get back to the government, revealed a source who was present at the meeting.
He hasn’t reverted back yet on the proposal, nor did he say anything about it in the interview. Consequently, officials in the PM’s office have taken his soft noises about Manmohan Singh with a pinch of salt rather than a substantive move towards resolution of the nuclear standoff.

A Left leader said Karat’s remarks were meant to clear the air and heal the breach caused by the PM’s ``take-it-or-leave-it’’ challenge to the Marxists. It’s now up to the government to pick up Karat’s olive branch and work towards reconciliation.

What’s not clear is how the two sides will resolve their basic differences over the nuclear deal. The government wants to start talking safeguards with the IAEA but the Left sees it as the first step towards operationalising the Indo-US nuclear deal. Can the chasm be bridged?