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UPA-Left panel may meet on March 17

NEW DELHI: A meeting of the UPA-Left joint committee on the India-United States nuclear deal is likely to be held here on March 17, informed sources said on Monday.

The meeting is being convened after Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Prakash Karat sent a letter to External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee last week on behalf of the Left parties seeking an urgent meeting of the panel by March 15. Mr. Mukherjee is also the convener of the committee.

Sources in the Left parties told The Hindu that the government on Monday started consulting all members of the committee to ascertain their availability at the earliest so that the meeting could be held soon.

They said the government was looking at March 17 to convene the meeting of the 15-member committee when all members would be available.

Government negotiators were expected to return on Monday or Tuesday after their discussions on the draft safeguards agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The draft will be discussed in the UPA-Left committee as had been agreed earlier between the sides. It is the committee on nuclear issue that will take a decision on the draft safeguards agreement with the IAEA.

Though the Left’s deadline of convening the meeting by March 15 does not look feasible due to tours of top leaders of the Left parties and Mr. Mukherjee over the next few days, it is most likely that the UPA-Left committee will now meet on Monday.

In his letter to the External Affairs Minister, Mr. Karat had cited media reports that the negotiations with the IAEA on the draft safeguards agreement had covered considerable ground.

The Left parties’ move came in the wake of recent statements in Parliament by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Mr. Mukherjee, referring to the government’s efforts to evolve a consensus on the deal.

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