Left may allow IAEA talks, but adds a rider

NEW DELHI: The Left may give Prime Minister Manmohan Singh the green signal to go ahead with the crucial IAEA negotiations on the India-US nuclear deal, but will insist on an assurance that no agreement is signed before it clears the pact.

According to Left leaders, the government has again appealed that it be allowed to initiate India-specific safeguards with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) so the deal can go forward.

"We will discuss the matter in the next (United Progressive Alliance-Left) nuclear committee meeting," Communist Party of India (CPI) leader D Raja, a member of the 15-member panel, said.

The government has apparently told Left leaders that it wanted an 'honourable exit' if the nuclear deal with Washington was not signed.

The matter was again raised on Saturday at a meeting between CPI-M general secretary Prakash Karat and CPI leader AB Bardhan with the prime minister, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and nuclear committee chairperson Pranab Mukherjee.

"Although the Left leaders reiterated their opposition to the nuclear deal, we have agreed for a discussion in the nuclear committee," said a senior Left leader.

Well-placed sources said the Left, which has been getting flak for its role in the violence in Nandigram, wants a temporary truce with the government over the contentious civil nuclear pact.

Bardhan was quoted as saying in an interview to a TV news channel that if the committee came to the finding that the IAEA negotiations could be allowed, the Left would go along with it. But he added a rider, 'provided that they come back before initialising it and before sending it to the board of governors of IAEA.'

"And if that time also we say that no, nothing doing, then they should stop," the CPI general secretary said.

Addressing reporters on Monday, Karat also indicated a possible softening of stance.

"The differences over the nuclear can be sorted out soon as the UPA-Left committee meetings have already found substantial ground," he said.

Pointing out that the government has not been adamant on its stance, Karat said, "When we asked them not to go ahead with the operationalisation of the deal, they did not. We asked them not to negotiate with the IAEA, they heeded to it."

"We are also trying not to be adamant," he said. He also added, "The government can also try to heed to our demand."
 
The CPI-M-led Left parties, who extend crucial parliamentary support to the Congress-led UPA government, has been opposing the nuclear agreement with Washington saying that it would undermine the country's independent foreign policy and indigenous nuclear programme.

It has also warned of 'serious consequences' if the government went ahead with its negotiations with the IAEA on an India-specific safeguard protocol before addressing the concerns expressed by the Left parties.

The UPA-Left nuclear committee, formed to address the Left's concern over the deal, has met five times and the sixth meeting will be scheduled soon.