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Friday, Jul 11, 2008
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Shocking betrayal: Karat

Vinay Kumar

We’ll make it “politically impossible” to clinch nuclear deal

Prakash Karat

NEW DELHI: A day after the four Left parties formally withdrew their support to the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, they sharpened their offensive and vowed to make it “politically impossible” for the Manmohan Singh government to go ahead and clinch the Indo-U.S. civilian nuclear deal.

Attacking the government for approaching the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for the safeguards agreement in the nuclear deal before securing a trust vote in Parliament, the Left parties described the move as a “shocking betrayal of a moral commitment” made to the country and the people.

“We know how to fight against the deal and we will make it politically impossible for the government to go ahead with the agreement,” CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat told a press conference at the party headquarters here on Thursday.

CPI general secretary A.B. Bardhan, Forward Bloc general secretary Debabrata Biswas and other senior Left leaders were present.

He said External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee had announced on Tuesday that the government would send India’s safeguards agreement to the IAEA Board for approval only if it won the trust vote in Parliament. Mr. Mukherjee also stated that he had consulted the Prime Minister who was in Japan.

“Coming hours after the announcement that the Left parties had decided to withdraw support to the government, this was a solemn commitment to the country that the government would not proceed to the Board of Governors of the IAEA till it proved its majority in Parliament,” Mr. Karat said.

“It is shocking that less than 24 hours of such a statement, the IAEA has announced that at the request of the Government of India, the text has been submitted to the Board for its consideration.

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