The Hindu : Kerala News : Exit from nuclear deal with U.S.: Forward Bloc

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Saturday, May 03, 2008
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Exit from nuclear deal with U.S.: Forward Bloc

Staff Reporter

KASARAGOD: The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government should exit from the Indo-U.S. nuclear deal honourably. The consent given by Left parties to enter into talks with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on India-specific nuclear safeguards is not a green signal to go ahead with the deal, Forward Bloc secretary G. Devarajan has said.

He was talking to reporters here on Thursday before flagging off the Netaji Desha Raksha Yatra of the party State unit. Clarifying the stance of his party prior to the crucial UPA-Left meet on May 6, Mr. Devarajan said the nod given by the Left for talks with the IAEA was only an opportunity to back out from the deal honourably. External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee had promised the Left that the government would not operationalise the deal and the opinion of Parliament was revealed during the discussion on the civilian nuclear deal. To go ahead with the deal amounted to ignoring the feelings of the House and the Left, he said.

Mr. Devarajan said the statements by some Union Ministers on the isolation of the country in high technology commerce due to the stalemate in the implementation of the deal revealed the submissive attitude of the government towards the U.S.

The talk of isolation, in fact, smacked of a veiled threat of the U.S. imposing sanctions on the country for backing out from the deal, he said.

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