A day after Sonia Gandhi asked the Congress to get ready for elections, CPM announced that it would snap support to the UPA government if it took the “harmful” Indo-US nuclear deal to the IAEA. The government can now have the deal either at the cost of elections or by getting the Samajwadi Party’s 39 members to back it in the Lok Sabha.
The government is betting on the second option because no one, neither Congress or its allies, is ready for polls with double-digit inflation expected to shoot up further. SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav has held that he would decide on the matter when the UNPA meets on July 3.
Mulayam remained noncommittal on the issue on Sunday, when he exhorted his party workers to prepare for Lok Sabha elections. This was interpreted in political parlours as the SP chief ’s resolve to drive a hard bargain with Congress.
On Sunday, the CPM politburo, attended by chief ministers of
Significantly, RJD chief and railway minister Lalu Prasad said at a rally in Bharuch, “The UPA government will complete its fiveyear term and the nuclear deal will also go through.’’ This is the first time that the leader of a major constituent of the UPA has asserted in public that the India-US civilian nuclear deal will go through, reflecting the progress made in Congress’s talks with SP.
CPM general secretary Prakash Karat, meanwhile, said going to the IAEA board to get the safeguards agreement approved would be a “flagrant violation” of the understanding reached at the November 2007 meeting of UPA-Left committee on the nuclear deal. “In case the government decides to go ahead with such a harmful agreement, which has no majority support in Parliament, the CPM will withdraw support to the UPA government in concert with other Left parties,” Karat said, reading out prepared statement.
The Left’s idea of what would constitute a “decision” hinges on the elusive last meeting of the UPA-Left committee, as announced on Wednesday. Left leaders insist that this meeting should pen down the committee’s finding that there is no consensus on the matter. “The result should be taken to the highest level after which the PM may clarify whether he is moving with the deal or not,” a Left leader said.
The Left’s stand is now crystal clear and a formal announcement of the committee’s futility would serve no purpose. Also, with the PM slated to attend the G-8 summit in early July and IAEA talks scheduled soon after, the government has no time for niceties.
FINAL STRAW
CPM politburo says the decision to snap support would be taken in consonance with the other three Left parties
RJD chief and railway minister Lalu Prasad says in a rally that the UPA government will complete its five-year term and the nuclear deal will also go through
Telugu Desam Party, UNPA’s second important constituent, has backed the Left stand. So, SP’s lifeline to the government may also mean the death of UNPA
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