Stand unchanged: Left

The left says that its stand on the Indo-US N-deal remains unchanged despite former president APJ Abdul Kalam endorsing the deal. Jatin Gandhi reports.

The left said on Sunday that its stand on the Indo-US nuclear deal remains unchanged despite former president APJ Abdul Kalam endorsing the deal and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh urging the Left, among others, to “listen to voices of wisdom”.

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Reacting to the PM’s remarks that the Left should listen to Kalam’s “voice of wisdom” on the nuclear deal, CPI general secretary AB Bardhan said the Left has great respect for Kalam. “But just as he has words of wisdom, others in the country have given us words of wisdom, too... we came to the conclusion that there is no change in our stand,” he said shortly after the party’s two-day national executive meeting.

Bardhan said the May-28 meeting is unlikely change their decision. “We will meet the UPA to tell them about our stand and that remains unchanged,” he said. “We can discuss it as many times as they want, but our stand will not change,” he asserted.

The Left parties are slated to meet on May 23, ahead of their ninth meeting with the UPA, on the Indo-US nuclear deal.