India
SP indicates support to UPA over N Deal; Cong lashes out at Left
New Delhi | Friday, Jul 4 2008 IST
The UPA-Left alliance was on the rocks as the Congress today said the Left parties were ''desperate, frustrated, discourteous and absolutely impulsive'' for setting a three-day deadline to pull out of the government, hours after the Samajwadi Party came out in support of the Indo-US nuclear deal. The Congress' strongest reaction, the first such in 50 months, was articulated by AICC General Secretary Veerappa Moily after the Left parties, which have been providing the crucial prop to the Manmohan Singh government since May 2004, set a July 7 deadline to make it clear they would pull the plug if the UPA went ahead with the India-specific safeguards agreement with the IAEA on the Indo-US nuclear deal. ''I don't know if they have any agenda other than what they are pursuing," he said while taking strong exception to the Left parties' deadline. In this context, he pointed out the Left parties should have demanded a meeting of the UPA-Left Panel on the nuke deal and sought their clarification. The joint mechanism still persisted. The Left had not boycotted the last meeting of the panel which had decided to meet again. ''It is not appropriate on their part to shoot out letter and release it before it reaches Panel Convener Pranab Mukherjee," he said, referring to the release of the letter to the media after the meeting of the Left parties. ''What is the deperation? Are they frustrated? Is it not a matured political party," Mr Moily asked, and said the manner in which they (Left) acted smacked of 'lack of courtesy.'' Samajwadi Party leaders Mulayam Singh Yadav and Amar Singh met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi and gave a clear indication the SP had decided to back the Congress on the Indo-US nuclear deal. The SP's declaration on the nuclear deal came following a meeting with former President A P J Abdul Kalam yesterday. Mr Yadav-- former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister-- met the Congress President after a gap of nearly five years. The last time the two leaders had met was in the first week of September, 2003, days after Mr Yadav was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh for the third time on August 29, 2003. Talking to newspersons after the meeting, Mr Yadav stopped short of saying that their party had taken final decision on the support to the Congress. Though Mr Amar Singh said the SP had not committed anything to the PM, Mr Yadav took special care to emphasise that national interest took precedence over their political interest, and after their meeting with Dr Kalam they were fully convinced that the deal was necessary for the energy security of the country. The Left parties set a three-day deadline for the withdrawal of support to the 50-month-old UPA government in case the latter did not respond to their query as to when the government is approaching the Board of Governors of the IAEA to execute the deal. ''Please let us know the position by July 7,'' the four Left parties said in a joint communique sent to External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee. At the end of the Left parties' joint meeting to finalise the modalities of the withdrawal of the support, CPM General Secretary Prakash Karat read out a brief three-paragraph statement saying that they wanted to know whether the government is proceeding to seek approval of the safeguards agreements by the Board of Governors of the IAEA. -- (UNI) -- 04DI61.xml
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