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Dr Manmohan Singh: We can’t go back on nuclear deal

Our Bureau

New Delhi, Aug. 11

Peeved at the official position on the Indo-US civilian nuclear treaty, the Left parties today kept their options open on continuing support to the Manmohan Singh Government.

A statement issued by CPI(M) General Secretary, Mr Prakash Karat, said that “the Prime Minister and the Government must realise that this agreement is not acceptable to the majority in Parliament.”

“As far as the approach to the Government is concerned, we will take our own counsel,” he said.

The statement comes on a day when a Kolkata-based daily carried an interview with the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, daring the Left parties to withdraw support if they so wished.

“I told them (Left parties) that it is not possible to renegotiate the deal. It is an honourable deal, the Cabinet has approved it, we cannot go back on it. I told them to do whatever they want to do, if they want to withdraw support, so be it...," Dr Singh said in the interview.

Earlier Mr Karat had said that “We will oppose the deal in Parliament. The UPA is a minority in Parliament. If the Government pursues the deal, we will also go to the people and it will have to pay a heavy political price.”

The Prime Minister’s remarks came in the wake of the stiff opposition by the four Left parties to the nuclear deal and their attempts for a detailed discussion of the issue in Parliament next week. They are demanding that the Government should not operationalise the deal.

Explaining the consistency of the party’s opposition on the issue, Mr Karat added in his statement today that “after the Hyde Act was adopted by the US containing unacceptable conditions, the CPI(M) has been asking the Government not to proceed with the negotiation for the bilateral (123) agreement.”

“We do not share the optimism that India can become a great power with the help of the US. India is a country endowed with sufficient natural resources and self confidence to carve out its own path of development,” Mr Karat said.

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