No ultimatum to UPA, says Left

NEW DELHI: Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader Prakash Karat has not issued an ultimatum to the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government over the Indo-US nuclear deal, party sources said Sunday.

Karat, in an address to Delhi unit party workers Saturday that was not open to the media, reportedly said that if the UPA did not end talks with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on India-specific safeguards to take forward the nuclear deal, the Left would withdraw support.

He also told Left workers that the party should be prepared for the Lok Sabha polls.

However, CPI-M sources clarified that what the party general secretary said was meant only for the party workers. It was not an ultimatum to the government, the sources stated.

Karat reportedly said that they were waiting for the Gujarat polls to get over and after that the party should be prepared for the Lok Sabha elections.

Karat is reported to have said that if the government held talks with the IAEA, "we will stall talks with the UPA", and that the issue should be "resolved by the end of December". If the UPA pursued talks with the IAEA, the Left would have to prepare for the Lok Sabha elections, he reportedly said.

Karat, sources said, also said that the Left, which provides outside support to the UPA, had given more time to the government to ensure that the alliance continued till the Gujarat elections as it did not want the Bharatiya Janata Party to get votes in Gujarat.