UPA, Left meet deferred on N-deal

The sixth UPA-Left meeting to discuss the implications of the India-US nuclear deal will now not be held on November 16 as scheduled, reports Saroj Nagi

In view of a possible Parliamentary debate on the issue, the sixth UPA-Left meeting to discuss the implications of the India-US nuclear deal will now not be held on November 16 as scheduled. The winter session of Parliament starts on November 15.

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There are indications of a broad political consensus on a House debate on the deal that the BJP would prefer under a rule that entails voting while the Left has no such precondition. In this backdrop, the convenor of the UPA-Left panel on the nuclear question, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee conveyed to CPM general secretary Prakash Karat and his colleague Sitaram Yechury that the meeting stood deferred.

In the five meetings the panel has had so far, the Congress and the Left have failed to break the logjam on the nuclear issue, with the two sides differing on their perception about the deal’s implications on India’s sovereign foreign policy and what constitutes its operationalisation

The N-issue is also expected to figure in the two-day CPM Politburo meeting starting from Sunday. The main agenda of the meet, however, deals with the preparations for 19th Congress of the party in Coimbatore in April 2008.