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Sunday, Nov 11, 2007
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Parliament to discuss 123 agreement

Special Correspondent

Issue to come up at beginning of session

NEW DELHI: The government and the Left parties on Saturday agreed to have a discussion on the India-U.S. civilian nuclear deal at the beginning of the winter session of Parliament starting on November 15.

The decision was taken at a two-hour luncheon meeting here between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi, and CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat and his CPI counterpart A.B. Bardhan.

External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who is the convener of the UPA-Left committee on the nuclear deal, was present.

“It was agreed that the statement made by the Prime Minister on the 123 agreement during the last session of Parliament should be taken up for discussion at the beginning of the winter session,” M. Veerappa Moily, chairman of the Congress media department, said in a release.

He said the postponed sixth meeting of the UPA-Left committee, originally scheduled for November 16, would be convened as soon as possible.

In his brief remarks, Mr. Karat said the coming Parliament session, including the nuclear deal, was discussed at Saturday’s meeting, which came a day ahead of Dr. Singh’s departure for Russia.

In the session, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Trinamool Congress are likely to raise the Nandigram issue.

The Left parties want price rise, collapse of the public distribution system and the agrarian crisis taken up for discussion.

Left stand

The Left parties have been demanding a discussion on the nuclear agreement in Parliament. However, it could not be held in the last session as the House witnessed disruptions by the BJP.

The UPA-Left committee has already held five meetings and is to finalise its findings. The Left parties have reiterated that the committee’s findings will have to be considered before the government takes the next step to operationalise the nuclear deal.

It appears certain now that the timeline on the nuclear agreement, as spelt out from time to time by U.S. officials, will not be adhered to.

The deal ought to go to the U.S. Congress by January next after negotiations with the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Nuclear Suppliers Group.

Congress exercise

PTI reports:

With the nuclear deal creating differences with the Left, the Congress has embarked on an exercise on how best to put forth its point of view on the issue at the AICC meeting scheduled here for November 17. A meeting of the committee, which has Rahul Gandhi as one of its members, to draft resolutions was held here on Saturday night.

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