The Hindu : Front Page : UPA-Left standoff continues

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Saturday, Aug 18, 2007
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UPA-Left standoff continues

New Delhi Bureau

Honeymoon may be over but marriage can go on: Karat

NEW DELHI: The strain on ties between the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government and the Left parties on the nuclear deal with the United States continued on Friday, though the Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary, Prakash Karat, was reported to have said that the “honeymoon may be over but the marriage can go on.”

Senior leaders of the CPI and the CPI(M) were closeted in discussions and the Congress also took stock of the developments at a meeting of its “core group” at the residence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Later in the evening, Dr. Singh hosted a dinner for West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, who is here to attend the CPI(M) Polit Bureau meeting.

Even as the Polit Bureau began a two-day meeting to evolve a strategy to take on the Government on the nuclear deal, the CPI’s national secretariat too held a session to review its ties with the UPA Government.

The tension in the Left-UPA relations was visible in the Lok Sabha during an impromptu discussion after Speaker Somnath Chatterjee rejected a debate under Rule 184 that entails voting.

External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said India was not bound by the Hyde Act as it was only advisory in nature. Reacting to the Leader of the Opposition, L.K.Advani’s charge that the Government was “misleading” the House by saying that India was not bound by the Act, Mr. Mukherjee said he quoted only the U.S. President, George Bush, verbatim.

Mr. Mukherjee said these points were reflected in the joint statement of July 2005 and March 2006. “Let the House discuss it and it will be known who is right and who is wrong.”

Earlier, Mr. Advani said he was happier to see the UPA remaining in power and making more blunders that would further alienate it from its allies, as seen in the nuclear deal issue. He said that it was for the first time that a statement made by the Prime Minister was “misleading” and an international pact signed by him had involved him in a privilege motion.

Accepting the Speaker’s ruling for a discussion under Rule 193, Mr. Advani said Parliament should enact legislation that would provide for ratification by the House before any treaty was signed.

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