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Saturday, Mar 08, 2008
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Bardhan: we cannot be party to government going ahead with deal

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: The Communist Party of India on Friday warned the United Progressive Alliance government that the party would be left with no option except withdrawing support should it go ahead with the India-U.S. civilian nuclear deal.

In a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, CPI general secretary A.B. Bardhan said it was not the nuclear deal alone but many other violations of the Common Minimum Programme were also causing disquiet to the party.

The letter comes a day after CPI (M) general secretary Prakash Karat wrote to External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, asking him to convene a meeting of the UPA-Left Joint Committee on the nuclear deal.

“Should the government decide to push ahead with the deal, we will not and cannot be a party to it. We will then be left with no option but to withdraw our support to the government,” Mr. Bardhan said.

Referring to Dr. Singh’s “open effort” at canvassing Bharatiya Janata Party’s support for the deal, he said: “Your talk of trying to build a consensus sounds hollow when you are fully aware that no such consensus is possible, a fact revealed in the parliamentary debate itself. You also know the stand of the Left parties. In our view, the deal will be totally against our national interests, our sovereignty and independent foreign policy.”

The CPI leader also expressed shock at the recent statements by U.S. officials putting pressure on the government to hurry up and sign the deal.

“In the midst of this plethora of statements made by the U.S. side and by our own high officials, the solemn decision taken at the last meeting of UPA-Left Committee that the government will come back to the Committee after IAEA negotiations and even before any text is initiated is being totally sidetracked. Public opinion is bewildered at all this. We have been waiting with patience for the government to clarify the situation,” Mr. Bardhan said.

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