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'Left to set time-frame for N-panel at next meeting'
CPI(M) on Saturday says the Left would set a "time-frame" for the government to complete evaluation of concerns over the Indo-US nuclear civilian deal.
The CPI(M) on Saturday said the Left would set a "time-frame" for the government to complete evaluation of concerns over the Indo-US nuclear civilian deal and implications of the Hyde Act after its meeting with the UPA on September 19.
"The real work (on studying the implications of nuclear agreement) is yet to start. We will discuss the identified issues in the next meeting and the time-frame can be decided then," CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat told reporters in Hyderabad.
He said the first round of the UPA-Left Committee meeting on September 11 had identified the agenda for discussions at the next meeting.
"We hope that after the discussions, the situation will become clear about the implications of the deal over our foreign policy and security," he said.
He said the Left parties had asked the government not to proceed with operationalising the agreement till all the objections and implications of Hyde Act, the US legislation related to the deal, were properly evaluated.
Asked whether he foresaw possibility of early polls, Karat, whose party is providing outside support to the UPA government, said "I cannot answer that question. I do not know. All I can say is that we want the committee to look into all the aspects and implications of the deal."
He also hoped the UPA Government would "reconsider all the issues" which the Left parties, who are vehemently opposed to the atomic deal in its present form, would raise during the coming discussions.
Asked whether Left parties would talk to AIADMK chief Jayalalithaa who had backed the Left stand on the issue, Karat said "a majority of the parties are opposed to the deal. They all agree that India should not proceed with the agreement."
The 15-member UPA-Left panel on nuclear agreement held its first meeting in Delhi on September 11 and decided to discuss implications of the Hyde Act on the 123 Agreement and on self-reliance in India's nuclear sector. The CPI(M) general secretary was in Hyderabad to attend the state Executive Meeting of the Andhra Pradesh party unit.
