Agencies
News Delhi, Mar 8:
Downplaying the Left's threat to withdraw support, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday made it clear that neither the Congress nor its allies were thinking of elections before 2009 and there was no question of "sacrificing" the government for the Indo-US nuclear deal.
Mukherjee said India had conveyed to the US that it could not work "within a specific time-frame" to conclude the deal.
"I don't think so, because we want to have elections in due time (in 2009)," Mukherjee told a television channel when asked about the possibility of early polls.
While noting that "many unforeseen things happen" in coalition politics, he said "but the things you have referred to are not unforeseen because the position of Left parties is well known to us."
He was responding to the threat issued by the Left parties of withdrawal of support if the government went ahead with operationalising the Indo-US nuclear deal.
"I do not visualise that anybody is thinking of early elections. None of the coalition partners or coalition supporters are talking of early elections," Mukherjee insisted.
"Nobody is talking of holding elections now. There is no talk of sacrificing the government for something," he said when asked if there was a debate in the Congress about whether the nuclear deal is worth sacrificing the government for.
The Left parties, which provide crucial outside support to the government, have lately hardened their stance against operationalisation of the deal, triggering speculation of early polls.
Asked about CPI General Secretary AB Bardhan's letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday threatening to withdraw support, Mukherjee said he had not seen the letter but only read about it in newspapers. He, however, referred to the letter written by CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat to him wherein the Communist leader had sought early meeting of the UPA-Left committee on the nuclear deal.
Downplaying the Left parties' threat, Mukherjee suggested that it was nothing new. "Generally, I can say that they have all along maintained their position that if you proceed with civilian nuclear cooperation with the US, then they will have to withdraw support. It is decision of their policy-making bodies," he said.
Left renews pressure
The Left on Saturday renewed pressure on the government on
the issue of Indo-US nuclear deal as the CPI(M) warned that
its agenda was "not the stability" of the Congress-led coalition.
"Our agenda is the nuclear deal and not the stability of the government or an early or late election. We are opposed to the deal because we think it is not in the interest of the country," CPI(M) politburo member Sitaram Yechury told reporters.
Whether government will go in for early elections is for them to decide, he said in reply to a question on the sidelines of the party Central Committee meeting.
At the same time he recalled that External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee had said survival of the government was more important than the deal and ruled out early elections.
He reminded the government that there is a written agreement in the UPA-Left Committee that it will not sign any agreement with the IAEA and come back to the committee.It is only after the committee takes a decision that the government can take the next step, he said.
According to the written agreement at the UPA-Left committee, Yechury noted that the government will proceed on the basis of the committee's finding.
"If the committee says it is not correct, then the government has to follow it," he added. The CPI(M)'s plain talk has come a day after CPI's formally warning the government on withdrawal of support if it goes ahead with the nuclear deal.
CPI General Secretary AB Bardhan's letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh came a day after stiff deadline set by CPI(M) to the government to convene a meeting of the UPA-Left Committee on the nuclear deal by March 15 to discuss issues in the wake of US "pressures" to implement the deal.
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